Patient Safety Culture in West Virginia s Rural Hospitals

1. Patient Safety Culture in West Virginia�s Rural Hospitals In the beginning�. West Virginia Medical Institute

2. Background The IOM Report. To Err is Human, focused attention on patient safety and medical errors However, rural West Virginia hospitals did not have systems or infrastructure in place to improve processes as suggested by IOM WVMI saw opportunity to assist and implemented the WV Patient Safety Improvement Program, initially with corporate funds We received an AHRQ grant 9/2004 to expand the scope of the original project

3. Objectives Improve patient safety and the culture of patient safety in rural West Virginia hospitals by: Offering a free, confidential event reporting system protected from legal discovery Developing a collaborative network to share information and best practices

4. Barriers to Implementation Lack of IT Infrastructure in rural areas of West Virginia Peer Review Statutes- Hospital legal staff feared data could be discoverable Computer Literacy of hospital staff Lack of trained IT staff

5. Today 23 hospitals are participating in the AHRQ project to date, 13 of these are CAH Baseline evaluation question: What is the patient safety culture in West Virginia�s critical access hospitals?

6. Critical Access Hospitals There are 1013 CAHs across the nation Small rural hospitals differ from larger urban facilities in many different ways that can impact on their ability to implement and sustain patient safety initiatives. Do they differ with respect to the patient safety culture in their facilities?

7. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: Methodology Distributed to staff designated by hospital administration at time of system training.* Completed surveys turned in at end of training session. Data scanned into an Excel database and analyzed used SAS. Data collection is ongoing as hospitals are still being recruited.

8. Hospital Survey: Results Through April 2005, 860 surveys have been completed representing staff at 16 hospitals 10 of the 16 (62.5%) are CAHs

9. Demographic Data about Respondents

10. AHRQ Staff Survey Summary Results

11. Demographic Data (continued) 3. Time worked --in the hospital 8.4% Less than 1 year 33.6% 1 to 5 years 24.9% 6 to 10 years (years) 8.7% 11 to 15 years 9.9% 16 to 20 years 14.4% 21 years or more --in their current hospital work area 10.2% Less than 1 year 40.7% 1 to 5 years 23.1% 6 to 10 years (years) 9% 11 to 15 years 7.2% 16 to 20 years 9.9% 21 years or more --in their current 4.5% Less than 1 year 24.5% 1 to 5 years 17.6% 6 to 10 years specialty (years) 16.1% 11 to 15 years 11.3% 16 to 20 years 26% 21 years or more 4. Percentage of respondents with direct interaction or contact with patients: 73.2%

12. Overall Perceptions of Safety

13. Frequency of Events Reported 1. When a mistake is made, but is caught and corrected before affecting the patient, how often is this reported? (D1) 2. When a mistake is made, but has no potential to harm the patient, how often is this reported? (D2) 3. When a mistake is made that could harm the patient, but does not, how often is this reported? (D3)

14. Teamwork Within Units

15. Communication Openness 1. Staff will freely speak up if they see something that may negatively affect patient care. (C2) 2. Staff feel free to question the decisions or actions of those with more authority. (C4) R3. Staff are afraid to ask questions when something does not seem right. (C6)

16. Feedback and Communication About Error 1. We are given feedback about changes put into place based on event reports. (C1) 2. We are informed about errors that happen in this unit. (C3) 3. In this unit, we discuss ways to prevent errors from happening again. (C5)

17. Nonpunitive Response to Error R1. Staff feel like their mistakes are held against them. (A8) R2. When an event is reported, it feels like the person is being written up, not the problem. (A12) R3. Staff worry that mistakes they make are kept in their personnel file. (A16)

18. Hospital Management Support for Patient Safety

19. Teamwork Across Hospital Units

20. Hospital Handoffs & Transitions

21. How Does CAH Pt. Safety Culture Differ from Larger Hospitals in WV? At the level of composite scores the differences are minimal, with the exceptions of: Communication Openness, Teamwork Across Hospital Units, and Hospital Handoffs and Transitions. CAH respondents were less likely than non-CAH staff to freely speak up or question decisions. A greater percentage CAH respondents felt that there was good teamwork in their facilities. And that handoffs and transitions between units, etc. were cleaner.CAH respondents were less likely than non-CAH staff to freely speak up or question decisions. A greater percentage CAH respondents felt that there was good teamwork in their facilities. And that handoffs and transitions between units, etc. were cleaner.

22. Culture differences continued Differences appear in specific questions 74% v 57% strongly agree/agree that patient safety is NEVER sacrificed to get more work done. 64% v 44% strongly agree/agree that they have enough staff to handle the workload. 29% v 44% strongly agree/agree that they work in �crisis mode� trying to do too much, too quickly 58% v 42 SA/A there is good cooperation among hospital units that need to work together

23. Discussion: So What? Reminder: Convenience sample, reflecting the opinions of those chosen or choosing to participate in training. The patient safety culture in WV rural hospitals of all sizes still have areas needing improvement, e.g., attention to near misses, non-punitive response. Some of the ways in which CAH culture may differ, e.g., better teamwork, better transitions could theoretically support the ease with which patient safety interventions could be implemented.

24. Time will tell

25. Contact Information Gail Bellamy, Principal Investigator, gbellamy@wvmi.org Patricia Ruddick, Project Manager, pruddick@wvmi.org David Lomely, Analyst, dlomely@wvmi.org