SOPS Surveys
What Are the SOPS Surveys?
The AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) ask healthcare providers and other staff in hospitals, medical offices, nursing homes, community pharmacies, and ambulatory surgery centers about their organizational culture's support for patient safety. The surveys can be used to raise awareness of and improve patient safety culture in your organization.
What Are SOPS Surveys? (1:09)
Surveys on Patient Safety Culture
- Hospital Survey.
- Medical Office Survey.
- Nursing Home Survey.
- Community Pharmacy Survey.
- Ambulatory Surgery Center.
Supplemental Item Sets
Users of SOPS surveys have the option of incorporating additional questions, known as supplemental item sets, to customize their questionnaires.
The SOPS Hospital, Medical Office, and Nursing Home Surveys have the following supplemental item sets that you can add after the core surveys before the background questions.
| SOPS Supplemental Item Set | SOPS Hospital Survey | SOPS Medical Office Survey | SOPS Nursing Home Survey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Information Technology |  | ||
| Workplace Safety |  |  | |
| Value and Efficiency |  |  | |
| Diagnostic Safety |  |
The SOPS surveys and supplemental item sets are publicly available for download and use, however, international users should contact SafetyCultureSurveys@westat.com for permission to use the survey outside the United States.
SOPS Survey Development Process
The figure below shows the survey development process for the SOPS surveys and supplemental item sets.
Using the Surveys
When using any of the SOPS surveys, reference the full name "Surveys on Patient Safety Culture" with the trademark symbol (®) to indicate this is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In the text of written documents (journal articles, press coverage, etc.), spell out the name the first time that it appears, followed by SOPS in parentheses with the registered trademark symbol (®): "AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) Program." Indicate that this is a program of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
If you are administering a patient safety culture survey that is based on a SOPS survey or uses items from a SOPS survey, please refer to the instructions for modifying and naming SOPS surveys in Using the SOPS® Name.
Learn more:
Increasing Survey Response Rate in Your Hospital - Theresa Famolaro conducts a brief interview with Rebecca Caschette, RN, M.S., of Memorial Healthcare System and Joe Hughes, M.H.A., of Riverside Walter Reed Hospital about how to increase survey response rates.- Transcript of the podcast (PDF, 35 KB).
- Tip Sheet: Improving Response Rates on the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (PDF, 130 KB)
Technical Assistance
- SafetyCultureSurveys@westat.com, 1-888-324-9749.
- DatabasesOnSafetyCulture@westat.com, 1-888-324-9790.
