The PeaceHealth Ambulatory Medication Safety Culture Survey

Excerpt

Objective: The objective of this project was to construct a measure of medication safety culture in ambulatory settings. Methods: A 16-item survey was created to measure the degree to which a culture of medication safety exists within ambulatory clinics. The instrument was tested with two administrations separated by 12 months in three ambulatory clinics and evaluated with Mplus factor analysis, internal consistency reliability, and discrimination ability. Results: Of 105 staff, 62 (60 percent) returned surveys in the first administration and 80 (77 percent) in the second. The measure had good internal consistency reliability, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.94 and 0.90 for the two administrations and 0.90 to 0.96 across the three clinics. The measure demonstrated good sensitivity and discrimination between clinics. Five subdomains of medication safety culture were identified: (1) leadership, (2) learning culture, (3) quality improvement, (4) physician responsibility, and (5) safety as a priority. Conclusion: The measure is psychometrically strong and capable of assisting in the improvement of medication management safety.