Joint CMS/CHA flash survey measures progress on patient safety programs

Tuesday, January 01, 2013 12:29 PM

Physicians and hospital management generally optimistic about patient safety initiatives underway

CMS staff report

Colorado physicians and hospital executives have generally positive attitudes about patient safety initiatives underway at the hospitals where they work, though it’s clear doctors have concerns, according to a poll conducted earlier this year.

The poll found hospital execs shared many of physicians’ concerns. Among them: issues of communication between management and physicians; doctors’ comfort level about participating in peer review and reporting misses and near-misses; and having technology that is effective in helping reduce events.

The questions about patient safety were posed to Colorado Medical Society members during a 2012 CMS flash survey conducted last summer by pollster Benjamin Kupersmit of Kupersmit Research. The poll of 378 CMS members working in a hospital setting has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

The same questions were also asked of 26 hospital administrators who are Colorado Hospital Association members, with the results being used to help identify strategies at an October patient safety summit (see story on page 26) and to support ongoing efforts by CMS. Because of the number of responses, they may only be used to draw general conclusions and trend. The findings are not statistically representative, Kupersmit said.

Of the physicians polled, 29 percent said patient safety initiatives are “very” effective, while 45 percent said “somewhat” effective. Three percent said “not at all,” while 9 percent said “not that” effective. The remainder said “vary too much” or are unsure. Among the hospital executives who responded, 13 said “very” effective, while 11 said “somewhat” and 2 said “not that” effective.

A majority of both physicians and administrators said physicians in hospitals are engaged in patient safety efforts but not “totally” engaged.

Differences are seen on the issue of communication. One-half of physicians said they were satisfied and one-quarter said they were unsatisfied with “management being willing to listen” to improve patient safety. Among the administrators, 23 of 26 said they were satisfied with this. Slightly more than half of physicians (55 percent) said they were satisfied with “physicians being willing to listen,” while relatively fewer hospital execs (17 out of 26) said they were satisfied with this. Four said they were unsatisfied.

Kupersmit said the research suggests there are opportunities for physicians and hospital executives to work together to ensure that specific tasks, technology and EMR systems and communication channels are aligned with the overarching objective of improving patient safety.

“It is clear that in those cases where there is evidence and data that actions and tasks make an impact, participation and willingness to be involved is very high,” he said. “The challenge lies is opening and ensuring lines of communication that are two-way, and serve to continually check and improve systems at all levels.”