Safety Culture 2021 AHRQ Survey Results

The VCU Department of Radiology physicians outperformed the 2021 AHRQ Database of 172 participating hospitals and achieved 90th percentile ranking in 5 categories with highest scores in Teamwork and Communication Openness.

VCU Health assessed the culture of safety at the health system using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Culture Survey in July 2021. The anonymous survey ranked individual physician units in 10 categories to derive an overall safety score:

• Teamwork
• Staffing and Work Pace
• Organizational Leadership/Continuous Improvement
• Responses to Error
• Supervisor, Manager or Clinical Leader Support for Patient Safety
• Communication About Error
• Communication Openness
• Reporting Patient Safety Events
• Hospital Management Support for Patient Safety
• Handoffs and Information Exchanged

The results show the VCU Department of Radiology physicians, including attendings and residents, outperformed in all 10 categories compared to the 2021 AHRQ Database of 172 participating hospitals (87,856 respondents) and VCU Health physicians overall rankings. Radiology physicians also surpassed the national average of teaching hospitals in all 10 categories. Teaching hospitals made up 41% of the participating hospitals.

The radiology physicians earned an overall safety score of 80 percent with the highest scores in Teamwork, scoring 95 percent, and Communication Openness, scoring 89 percent. The VCU Department of Radiology physicians were in the 90^th percentile in 5 categories: Teamwork, Staffing and Work Pace, Organizational Leadership/Continuous Improvement, Responses to Error, and Communication Openness. 

The Department’s leadership attributes the high rankings to a supportive, proactive environment where physicians and staff focus on continuous improvement and problem solving. Radiology physicians are proud of the rankings and will continue efforts to improve reporting and communications while monitoring work pace and making staffing recommendations. The VCU Department of Radiology looks forward to developing new action plans that advance the VCU Health patient safety initiative.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) is a federal agency charged with improving the safety and quality of the U.S. health care system. The agency’s mission, as stated on the AHRQ website, “is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.”