Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29747612›Full record

SynthesisBMC health services research2018

Assessing safety climate in acute hospital settings: a systematic review of the adequacy of the psychometric properties of survey measurement tools.

Gheed Alsalem, Paul Bowie, Jillian Morrison

Open access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
8.8field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Patient Safety Culture in Latin American Hospitals: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
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  11. Assessing a safety climate tool adapted to address respiratory illnesses in Canadian hospitals.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2024
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  19. Nurse leadership: Sustaining a culture of safety.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Gheed AlsalemInstitute of Health and Wellbeing, General Practice and Primary Care, University of Glasgow, 1,Horselethill Road, Glasgow, G12 9LX, UK. g.alsalem.1@research.gla.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-6497-6446
Paul BowieNHS Education for Scotland, 2 Central Quay, 89 Hydepark Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8BW, UK.
Jillian MorrisonInstitute of Health and Wellbeing, General Practice and Primary Care, University of Glasgow, 1,Horselethill Road, Glasgow, G12 9LX, UK.
NHS Education for Scotland · GBSouthern General Hospital · GBUniversity of Glasgow · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe perceived importance of safety culture in improving patient safety and its impact on patient outcomes has led to a growing interest in the assessment of safety climate in healthcare organizations; however, the rigour with which safety climate tools were developed and psychometrically tested was shown to be variable. This paper aims to identify and review questionnaire studies designed to measure safety climate in acute hospital settings, in order to assess the adequacy of reported psychometric properties of identified tools.

methodsA systematic review of published empirical literature was undertaken to examine sample characteristics and instrument details including safety climate dimensions, origin and theoretical basis, and extent of psychometric evaluation (content validity, criterion validity, construct validity and internal reliability).

resultsFive questionnaire tools, designed for general evaluation of safety climate in acute hospital settings, were included. Detailed inspection revealed ambiguity around concepts of safety culture and climate, safety climate dimensions and the methodological rigour associated with the design of these measures. Standard reporting of the psychometric properties of developed questionnaires was variable, although evidence of an improving trend in the quality of the reported psychometric properties of studies was noted. Evidence of the theoretical underpinnings of climate tools was limited, while a lack of clarity in the relationship between safety culture and patient outcome measures still exists.

conclusionsEvidence of the adequacy of the psychometric development of safety climate questionnaire tools is still limited. Research is necessary to resolve the controversies in the definitions and dimensions of safety culture and climate in healthcare and identify related inconsistencies. More importance should be given to the appropriate validation of safety climate questionnaires before extending their usage in healthcare contexts different from those in which they were originally developed. Mixed methods research to understand why psychometric assessment and measurement reporting practices can be inadequate and lacking in a theoretical basis is also necessary.

Indexed as

Acute DiseaseDelivery of Health CareHospitalizationHospitalsHumansOrganizational CulturePatient SafetyPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSafety ManagementSurveys and QuestionnairesAttitudes of health personnelHealth care surveys/methodsPatient safetyPsychometrics/instrumentationSafety climateSafety cultureSurveys and questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID29747612
PMCPMC5946435
OpenAlexW2802864431

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.