Is it enough to set national patient safety goals? An empirical evaluation in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVE: In 2004, the Taiwan Department of Health set the national patient safety goals. To date, however, there has been no evaluation of these goals. This study aimed to develop a method to evaluate the status of the national patient safety goals in Taiwan. DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire surveys to measure achievements on Taiwan's national patient safety goals. This survey was also followed up with an onsite audit to ensure accuracy. SETTING: All hospitals in Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 361 hospitals in Taiwan respond to questionnaire survey and 80 randomly selected hospitals for onsite audit. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Average scores on achievements of the national patient safety goals. RESULTS: Among the 516 hospitals to which the questionnaire was sent, 361 (70%) responded. A total of 80 hospitals were randomly selected according to geographic location and size for onsite audit. The results show that the longer the period of implementation, the higher the average scores on achievements of the goals. After stratified analysis by hospital size, the large hospitals were found to have a higher average score in every goal, especially in the new goals. Furthermore, in terms of the difference between self-report results and the onsite audit, the score in the self-report was higher than the score given by experts upon onsite audit; however, they were similar. Most items were approximately the same in the self-report score and the onsite judgment, and those that differed were merely either one rank higher or lower. CONCLUSION: The self-report questionnaire combined with an onsite audit appears to be a promising approach for measuring scores on achievements of the national patient safety goals. The Department of Health could conduct this program annually to evaluate the progress and propose coping strategies.