Assessment of Safety Attitudes in a Skilled Nursing Facility

Safety has not been well studied in the long-term care setting. This pilot study assesses staff attitudes regarding safety culture at one 250-bed skilled nursing facility. A valid and reliable Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) was administered once to a sample of 51 employees. Nursing staff and other health care staff were generally satisfied with their jobs (42% and 67% had a positive attitude, respectively) but gave low scores to Management (22% and 13%, respectively) and Safety Climate (28% and 33%, respectively). Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse management/supervisors received the highest ratings for quality of collaboration and communication (range: 3.6-4.1 on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 = very low, 5 = very high), whereas nurse practitioners and physician assistants received the lowest (range: 2.5-2.9). The SAQ provided insight into employees' safety attitudes and can be used to identify opportunities for improvements in safety.