The investigators found that interns who received teamwork and human error curriculum as part of a resuscitation training program displayed more team behaviors during a resuscitation simulation.

While several surveys have been developed to measure the culture of safety in inpatient settings, no outpatient-specific resource yet exists. In this study, funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the investigators adapted the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire to address safety culture in the outpatient arena. The resulting 62-item questionnaire was pilot tested in an academic multispecialty practice and was found to reliably identify safety issues. The survey is posted online at the authors' web site.

This AHRQ-supported study discusses one of the best-studied tools to measure and assess patient safety culture. Investigators present the cumulative findings from administering the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) to more than 10,000 providers in 203 clinical areas and in 3 countries. The domains that encompass provider attitudes include teamwork climate, safety climate, perceptions of management, job satisfaction, working conditions, and stress recognition. The authors describe their findings with a goal that their tool will allow health care organizations to measure safety attitudes and compare themselves across domains to others. A past study described the results of using such a tool in an academic medical center.

While executive walk rounds (EWRs) vary in application from institution to institution, their use continues to grow as a largely unproven method for improving safety culture. EWRs typically involve a number of executives visiting patient care areas to engage providers and discuss patient safety concerns. This study targeted more than 20 clinical units to determine the impact of EWRs on perceived safety climate using an established survey tool. Results suggested a positive effect on the safety climate attitude of nurses who participated in the rounds. The authors conclude that greater implementation of EWRs may serve as an important tool to improve safety culture and, ultimately, patient safety.

… to frame the issues of patient safety and medical errors. Helmreich provides background on the methods and use of error … such as focusing on teamwork and communication skills, Helmreich proposes a series of steps for creating error …