Which of the following statements are examples of features that support a culture of safety? (Select all that apply.)

Question

a. Acknowledging that hospitals are risk-free environments
b. Encouraging a high degree of teamwork and collaboration
c. Commitment of resources by the organi-zation to address safety concerns
d. An environment where employees can report errors without punishment
e. A system that does not use incident re-ports

Answer 1

B, C, D
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2012) has outlined key features for a culture of safety. These features are (1) acknowledgment of the high-risk nature of an organization's ac-tivities and the determination to achieve consistently safe operations, (2) a blame-free environ-ment where individuals are able to report errors or near misses without fear of reprimand or pu-nishment, (3) encouragement of collaboration across ranks and disciplines to seek solutions to patient safety problems, and (4) organizational commitment of resources to address safety con-cerns. Incident reports are necessary to help identify errors and near misses to make corrections and improve safety.