Parent perceptions of children's hospital safety climate.
Patients can play an important role in ensuring their own safety during medical care. Hospitals have begun to engage patients in establishing a safety culture, and The Joint Commission's Speak Up initiative aims to empower patients to address potential safety hazards. In this study, parents of hospitalized children were given an adapted version of the AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, and 39% felt they "needed to watch over care" delivered to their children in order to avoid mistakes. The parent data fit well with previously validated domains of patient safety, and the authors suggest that such measurement could help advance a more patient-centered approach to improving safety climate. A recent AHRQ WebM&M perspective by Dr. Saul Weingart discussed the role of patient engagement in safety.