Testing the association between Patient Safety Indicators and hospital structural characteristics in VA and nonfederal hospitals.
This study found little correlation between the number of hospital beds and level of nurse staffing and the likelihood of AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) events. On the other hand, it found that teaching hospitals were more likely to suffer certain PSIs. This study adds to prior evidence that there is relatively little correlation between structural features of hospitals and patient safety. That said, it is worth recalling that PSIs have not been shown to be highly reliable measures of safety.