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Say hello to easier, more powerful SOPS® results

Picture of Courtney Yule Courtney Yule : Published May 10, 2023 Updated November 24, 2025

CSI

Say hello to easier, more powerful SOPS® results

Survey results are meaningless without actionable insights. And when the highest levels of quality care and accreditation are on the line, actionable survey results are an absolute must for your hospital.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) suggests you collect the right data from the right people at the right time. Response rates must be high and survey answers meaningful. But these recommendations make SOPS a resource-heavy project. Cumbersome and time-consuming, key insights can be overlooked, and it can be hard to develop action plans to enhance patient and worker safety efforts, especially across two-year survey intervals.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Start your SOPS process off right with these tips, including support from the right survey administration partner: DataGen.

1. Make strong, early survey decisions.

AHRQ states a 60% response rate is required to obtain an accurate representation of the culture of safety in your hospital. Even the minimum response rate requires countless decisions:

WHO: Choose to use identifiers for your facility survey responses or keep them anonymous. The choice you make will either discourage respondents or inspire more honest, complete answers.
WHAT: With 50+ core and supplemental questions, your survey layout matters.
WHEN: Allot eight to ten weeks for survey completion. Involve sufficient staffing to socialize and promote the survey. Send reminders and address incomplete responses. Tabulate qualified responses.
WHERE: Choose web survey based on your hospital’s size and preferences, with the understanding that electronic surveys can convert responses to data and insights more efficiently.
HOW: How will you use your data? There is the option to submit your data in the required file format digitally to the AHRQ national database.

2. Be ready to act on your SOPS data.

Accurate data is the foundation of patient safety improvement. Hospitals need reliable, actionable insights to make informed decisions — and that’s where DataGen's Culture of Safety Insights™ solution excels. Used well, SOPS data can help you:

raise patient and staff safety awareness;
accurately assess your current patient safety culture;
identify strengths and areas needing improvement;
examine facility patient and employee safety trends;
evaluate how patient safety efforts impact your culture; and
compare settings across your organization.

Watch our video, SOPS® Beyond Scores: Ensuring Data Accuracy, to see how DataGen performs crucial data validation to ensure your Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) results are accurate and trustworthy.

3. Partner with an expert survey administrator to save time, energy and effort.

A good SOPS partner can help ensure survey neutrality and the integrity of results that your teams can feel, see and trust. The best SOPS partner can administer and deliver the survey in a single package.

DataGen is that partner, and Culture of Safety Insights is our turnkey SOPS solution.

Created by survey experts, CSI can help you get the insights you need to do more with your results: continually improve your scores, secure your reputation and transform your organization.

CSI manages all SOPS components, from survey administration to data collection to insights, and from trend visualization to plan activation.

The safest decision for safety surveys.

The SOPS requires countless decisions. Make your first one the best one. Contact DataGen today.

3️⃣ SOPS® Beyond Scores: How to Make an Impact

Courtney Yule : March 6, 2025

Learn how to combat survey fatigue, increase SOPS® staff participation and enhance patient safety culture with anonymous, flexible surveys. Watch now!