Table 3
Factors to attain the current level of patient safety
Response items How important have the following 36 factors been to achieve the current level of patient safety in your county council? N
Very important (%) Moderately important (%) Slightly important (%) Not at all important (%)
Conducting root cause and risk analyses 66 32 2 0 168
Incident reporting 63 33 4 0 165
The Swedish Patient Safety Law 60 30 8 2 165
Internal discussions with county council management, heads of health care units, health care providers etc. 57 35 7 1 162
Efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics 56 40 3 1 159
Use of Safe Surgery checklist 54 42 4 0 127
PPM of adherence to hygiene rules 51 41 8 0 161
Participation in SALAR's PPM of HAI 49 44 6 1 156
Use of Handbook for Patient Safety Work: Risk Analysis and Root Cause Analysis 48 41 10 1 155
Swedish regulation: SOSFS 2005:12, Quality and patient safety in health care, as described in the handbook Good Care 45 41 10 3 164
Participation in SALAR's PPM of compliance with hygiene rules 43 45 11 1 159
Surveillance of pressure ulcers 42 46 11 0 157
Participation in SALAR’s PPM of pressure ulcer 41 50 9 1 153
Legal decision from Lex Maria cases 39 50 11 0 165
Local STRAMA group 36 54 9 2 160
Use of SALAR's guidelines on postoperative infections 35 46 18 1 142
Complaints and reports from patients 34 51 13 2 163
Use of SALAR's guidelines on falls and injuries from falls 34 51 15 1 144
Use of SALAR's guidelines on pressure ulcers 34 48 18 1 143
Use of SALAR's guidelines on hospital acquired urinary tract infections 34 47 18 1 146
Use of SALAR's guidelines on malnutrition 33 39 26 2 141
Use of SALAR's guidelines on medication errors in health care transitions 32 45 22 1 148
Use of SALAR's guidelines on infections of central venous catheter 32 47 19 1 142
Use of SALAR's guidelines on medication-related problems 31 57 11 2 159
External discussions with others involved in patient safety 31 49 20 1 147
Structured review of medical records 30 33 28 10 144
Patient safety culture surveys 26 48 19 7 155
Information from various quality registers 26 42 27 4 157
Assembling annual report of patient safety work in the county council 20 42 29 9 157
Research and scientific articles about patient safety 19 42 36 3 162
Use of Handbook for Patient Safety: Structured Review of Medical Records According to Global Trigger Tool 18 37 30 15 131
Participation in the national patient survey in primary health care 17 45 32 5 115
Use of Handbook for Patient Safety: How to Measure Patient Safety Culture 17 46 32 6 145
Participation in the National Patient Overview (medical records at the national level) 15 42 31 12 121
Use of Handbook for Patient Safety: Safer Care 12 42 34 12 113
Informational material from the County Council Mutual Insurance Company 11 55 29 5 158

Answers missing or recorded as “no opinion” excluded.

Abbreviations: HAI, health care-associated infection; Lex Maria, regulation in Sweden that obliges caregivers to report incidents that have resulted or could have led to serious health damage to the National Board in Sweden; PPM, point prevalence measurement; SALAR, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions; STRAMA, the Swedish strategic programme against antibiotic resistance.

Nygren et al. BMC Health Services Research 2013 13:52   doi:10.1186/1472-6963-13-52

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