Assessing and improving safety culture throughout an academic medical centre: a prospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the authors' hospital-wide efforts to improve safety climate at a large academic medical centre.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study used multiple interventions to improve hospital-wide safety climate. 144 clinical units in an urban academic medical centre are included in this analysis.


METHODS
The comprehensive unit-based safety programme included steps to identify hazards, partner units with a senior executive to fix hazards, learn from defects, and implement communication and teamwork tools. Hospital-level interventions were also implemented.


METHODS
Safety climate was assessed annually using the safety attitudes questionnaire. The safety culture goal was to meet or exceed the 60% minimum positive score or improve the score by ≥10 points.


RESULTS
Response rates were 77% (2006) and 79% (2008). For safety climate, 55% of units in 2006 and 82% in 2008 achieved the culture goal. For teamwork climate, 61% of units in 2006 and 83% in 2008 achieved the culture goal. The mean safety climate improvement (difference score) for 79 units at or above 60% in 2006 was 0.201 in 2008; the mean improvement for the 65 units below the threshold was 18.278. The mean teamwork climate improvement (difference score) for the 89 units at or above 60% in 2006 was 0.452 in 2008; the mean improvement for the 55 units below the threshold was 16.176. Climate scores improved significantly from 2006 to 2008 in every domain except stress recognition.


CONCLUSIONS
Hospital-wide interventions were associated with improvements in safety climate at a large academic medical centre.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21231, USA.
Lori A
LA
Paine
Beryl J
BJ
Rosenstein
J Bryan
JB
Sexton
Paula
P
Kent
Christine G
CG
Holzmueller
Peter J
PJ
Pronovost
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000592:standards*; D015142:Baltimore; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017751:Safety Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires