This chapter presents the overall survey results for the database, showing the average percentage of positive responses across the database medical offices on each of the survey's items and composites. Reporting the average across medical offices ensures that each medical office receives an equal weight that contributes to the overall average.
Reporting the data at the medical office level in this way is important because culture is considered to be a group characteristic and is not considered to be a solely individual characteristic. An alternative method would be to report a straight percentage of positive responses across all respondents, but this method would give greater weight to respondents from larger medical offices.
Highlights
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Composite and Item-Level Charts
This section provides the overall item and composite-level results. The methods for calculating the percent positive scores at the item and composite levels are described in the Notes section of this report.
Composite-Level Results
Chart 5-1 shows the average percent positive response for each of the 10 patient safety culture composites across medical offices in the database. The patient safety culture composites are shown in order from the highest average percent positive response to the lowest.
Areas of Strength
- Teamwork (average 86 percent positive)—the office has a culture of teamwork, mutual respect, and close working relationships among staff and providers.
- Patient Care Tracking/Follow-up(average 86 percent positive)—the office reminds patients about appointments, documents how well patients follow treatment plans, follows up with patients who need monitoring, and follows up when reports from an outside provider are not received.
Areas With Potential for Improvement
- Work Pressure and Pace (average 50 percent positive)—there are enough staff and providers to handle the patient load, and the office work pace is not hectic.
- Communication Openness (average 68 percent positive)—providers in the office are open to staff ideas about how to improve office processes, and staff are encouraged to express alternative viewpoints and do not find it difficult to voice disagreement.
Item-Level Results
Chart 5-2 shows the average percent positive response for each of the 38 survey composite items. The items are grouped by the patient safety culture composite they are intended to measure. Within each composite, the items are presented in the order in which they appear in the survey. Chart 5-3 shows the item-level average ratings on a list of patient safety and quality issues, and Chart 5-4 shows the item-level average ratings on information exchange with other settings.
Area of Strength for the Patient Safety Culture Composite Items
- The composite item with the highest average percent positive response (91 percent positive) was from the patient safety culture composite Patient Care Tracking/Follow-up: (D9) "This office follows up with patients who need monitoring."
Area With Potential for Improvement for the Patient Safety Culture Composite Items
- The composite item with the lowest average percent positive response (37 percent positive) was from the patient safety culture composite Work Pressure and Pace: (C3) "In this office, we often feel rushed when taking care of patients." (That is, an average of only 37 percent of respondents in each medical office Strongly disagreed or Disagreed with this negatively worded item.)
Area of Strength for Patient Safety and Quality Items
- The Patient Safety and Quality item with the highest average percent positive response (98 percent positive) was: (A2) "The wrong chart/medical record was used for a patient." (That is, an average of 98 percent of respondents in each medical office indicated that the frequency of this event occurring was monthly or less in the past 12 months.)
Area With Potential for Improvement for Patient Safety and Quality Items
- The Patient Safety and Quality item with the lowest average percent positive response (59 percent positive) was: (A6) "A pharmacy contacted our office to clarify or correct a prescription."
Overall Ratings
Chart 5-5 shows the results from the five items on quality, and Chart 5-6 shows results for an Overall Rating on Patient Safety. On average across medical offices, the area of greatest strength was (G1e) providing equitable care to patients, with 82 percent of medical office staff giving their medical office a rating of "Excellent" (55 percent) or "Very good" (27 percent).
The area with most potential for improvement was (G1c) providing timely health care to patients, with only 56 percent of medical office staff giving their medical office a rating of "Excellent" (23 percent) or "Very good" (33 percent).
On average across medical offices, 68 percent of staff gave an Overall Rating on Patient Safety of "Excellent" (28 percent) or "Very good" (40 percent).
