Psychometric Evaluation of the Hospital Culture of Transitions Survey.

Background: Ineffective or inefficient transitions threaten patient safety, hinder communication, and worsen patient outcomes. The Hospital Culture of Transitions (H-CulT) survey was designed to assess a hospital's organizational culture related to within-hospital transitions in care involving patient movement. In this article, psychometric properties of the H-CulT survey were examined to assess and refine the hospital culture of transitions.
Methods: A cross-sectional, multicenter, multidisciplinary correlational design and survey methods were used to examine the psychometric properties of the H-CulT survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to quantify the accuracy of the previously identified structure. Specifically, the analysis involved the principal axis factor method with an oblique rotation, based on a polychoric correlation matrix.
Results: A sample of 492 respondents from 13 diverse hospitals participated. Cronbach's alpha for the instrument was 0.88, indicating strong internal consistency. Seven subscales emerged and were labeled: Hospital Leadership, Unit Leadership, My Unit's Culture, Other Units' Culture, Busy Workload, Priority of Patient Care, and Use of Data. Correlations between subscales ranged from 0.07 to 0.52, providing evidence that the subscales did not measure the same construct. Subscale correlations with the total score were near or above 0.50 (p <0.001). Use of a factor-loading cutoff of 0.40 resulted in the elimination of 12 items because of weak associations with the topic.
Conclusion: The H-CulT is a psychometrically sound and practical survey for assessing hospital culture related to patient flow during transitions in care. Survey results may prompt quality improvement interventions that enhance in-hospital transitions and improve staff satisfaction and patient satisfaction with care.
(Copyright © 2017 The Joint Commission. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)