Improving Safety Culture Results in Rhode Island ICUs:Lessons Learned from the Development of Action-Oriented Plans

摘要

More than five million Americans, including 15,500 from Rhode Island, are admitted annually to ICUs, which comprises approximately 30% of acute care costs or about $180 billion annually nationwide and $558 million annually in Rhode Island.1 Virtually all the five million patients admitted to ICUs are at risk for a potentially life-threatening adverse event.~2 Local norms and behaviors related to patient safety in the ICU, also known as safety culture, is associated with a unit's ability to improve clinical outcomes.~3 Although a Joint Commission requirement for evaluation of safety culture~(*4) was first announced in 2007~5 and has been in effect since January 2009, the science behind assessing and interpreting safety culture results and providing feedback and integrating safety culture results is still developing. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) is a formally validated instrument designed to assess the patient safety and quality improvement strengths and weaknesses within a given clinical area.~(6,7)