January 9, 2006

Dear Colleagues:

We can't repeat it too often: Safer patient care is our top priority.

We meet regularly with clinical department directors to scrutinize their safety records and to provide all possible support to their efforts. Patient Safety Net and statistics regarding surgical site infections, blood stream infections and sentinel events also help us monitor progress toward our goal of making medical errors ancient history. Your perceptions of how we are doing in this quest are another critical part of our vigilant tracking, so we are writing to request your help.

This month we are administering the second annual JH Institutional Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Howard County General Hospital. (At Johns Hopkins Bayview, we will distribute the questionnaire in March.) This survey provides valuable insight into unit-based attitudes about safety, teamwork, morale, stress, management and working conditions. The survey will be taken by nurses, physicians, pharmacists, clinical support staff, unit-based clerical and environmental staff, along with social work, PT, OT, RT and other health care team members whose work directly impacts clinical care and decision-making.

For these data to be most useful, it is important for at least 60% of staff on each unit to complete and return the survey. Each department has a survey coordinator who will distribute and collect surveys. Please complete your survey and encourage your colleagues to do the same by January 31.

The first JH Safety Attitudes Questionnaire was administered last year. To date, it is the nation's largest institutional administration of the SAQ. We successfully achieved an overall response rate of 64%, which is an incredible accomplishment. The results from the fall 2004 survey have been distributed through each department's leadership structure. If you have questions, please contact your survey coordinator or Lori Paine at x5-2919.

Remember, medical errors are preventable, not inevitable. With your help, we will make medical errors ancient history.

Sincerely,

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Ronald R. Peterson