Supplemental Item Sets

The AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) surveys are composed of standardized questions—referred to as core survey items—that support the comparability of survey content across users. There are also optional SOPS supplemental item sets that can be added to assess content in areas not included in the core surveys. These optional SOPS items developed by AHRQ are referred to as SOPS supplemental item sets.

The following SOPS supplemental item sets are available:

• Hospital Health Information Technology Patient Safety.
• Hospital Workplace Safety.
• Hospital Value and Efficiency.
• Medical Office Diagnostic Safety.
• Medical Office Value and Efficiency.
• Nursing Home Workplace Safety.

SOPS supplemental items are typically grouped into composite measures based on what the survey items are intended to measure. A composite measure is a grouping of two or more survey items that assess the same area of culture.

Administration Instructions

Adding SOPS Supplemental Items

To submit SOPS supplemental item data to the SOPS Databases, and to enable your facility’s data to be compared with the Database, SOPS supplemental items should be administered according to the following guidelines:

1. Any SOPS supplemental items included in your survey must be inserted at the end of the core SOPS survey items, just before the background questions. 
2. No changes can be made to the survey item text and/or response options for the SOPS supplemental items that are included in your survey. 
3. You can include all, or a subset, of the SOPS supplemental measures.
   • A subset of the SOPS supplemental measures would include:
     • Selected composite measures— 
       • However, ALL items within the selected composite measures must be administered.  
     • Selected single item measures— 
       • You can include or delete any single item measures. 
   • SOPS supplemental items that are included in your survey must not be reordered.
4. All definitions of terms, subheadings (re-lettering sections as needed), and instructions from the SOPS supplemental items must be included.

Adding Custom Survey Items 

You can add your own custom survey items, but they must be inserted at the end of the core SOPS survey items, just before the background questions. 

• If you include SOPS supplemental items, insert your custom survey items after the SOPS supplemental items. 
• Custom survey items are not submitted to the SOPS Databases.

SOPS Additional Resources

The SOPS Program offers resources to assist survey users, including the following:

• Action Planning Tool.
• Data Entry and Analysis Tools.
• Improvement Resource Lists.
• Impact Case Studies on SOPS Surveys.
• SOPS Bibliography.
• Frequently Asked Questions.