Levels of Patient Safety

Brief outline
Measures of quality and safety at the hospital level disregard variation at lower organisational levels. We wanted to

• assess the distribution of variation in quality and safety ratings on hospital, ward and individual nurse level.

• assess whether this variation was associated with work environment characteristics.

Surveydata provided information on registered nurses’ evaluation of patient safety and work environment in wards of general hospitals (Figure 1).

Lessons learnt
This study support the assumption that ward level should be among the foci for quality improvement efforts regarding patient safety. Comparative studies at ward level of working conditions, organisation and patient outcomes are needed.