either often (3%) or
occasionally (27%),
and only around one-
fourth (24%) say they
never see anyone tak-
ing shortcuts.
• Speaking up.
While most respon-
dents say staff mem-
bers are comfortable
speaking up when they
see something that
might compromise
safety, many admit they sometimes hesitate.
• Time outs. Highly recommended and well-publicized measures
intended to improve communication and safety — such as time outs
— are still a long way from being universally accepted and adopted.
• Never events. Nearly half (44%) of respondents admit that their
facilities have experienced a never event, such as wrong-site surgery.
• Arrogance. Most physicians, managers and nurses think they're
better at their jobs than their co-workers think they are.
• Blame game. Most managers say they always emphasize learning
over blame, but most nurses aren't sure that's true.
There's also some good news. More than 90% of respondents say
they and their co-workers are always (73%) or usually (21%) actively
looking for ways to improve patient safety. And those percentages are
similar across the board for physicians, facility leaders, nurses and
technicians.
With other issues, however, responses vary dramatically, depending
on who's answering the question. For example, more than half of
4 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 6
• TIME FOR A CHANGE? Many respondents say fully engaged time outs aren't nec-
essarily the norm at their facilities.
