SOPS Surveys

SOPS Surveys: SOPS Surveys Riverside Health System, based in Newport News, VA, has been using the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) for nearly a decade, administering surveys annually to all team members. As a result of the data collected from the surveys, changes have been implemented to improve patient safety at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester, VA, including a new tool for handling hospital handoffs. Safety culture survey responses in all categories also improved. SOPS surveys can be used in hospitals, medical offices, nursing homes, community pharmacies, and ambulatory surgery centers to ask healthcare providers and other staff about their organizational culture’s support for patient safety. Results of the surveys can then be used to improve areas that affect patient safety. SOPS survey questions are related to teamwork, staffing, response to error, communication, and handoffs and information exchange, among others. An important goal for the most recent Riverside Walter Reed Hospital survey was to assess patient safety culture to improve hospital handoffs, which are critical times to share vital patient information. A handoff is a standardized method to transfer information, authority, and responsibility during transitions in patient care, including nursing shift changes and patient transfers to other hospital units or facilities. Based on survey results, the hospital team developed, tested and hardwired a new handoff tool into standard daily work processes. Staff feedback has been positive about the handoff tool improving patient care.