Patients' perception of hospital safety has worsened since the pandemic, according to an April 2 Press Ganey report.
For the report, Press Ganey analyzed data on 12.5 million patient encounters, 1 million health system employees and more than 550,000 safety events reported in 2023. Patient experience data covers more than 500 healthcare organizations.
Patients' perceptions of safety were lower in hospital settings compared to the outpatient environment. In 2023, only 68.5% of hospital patients reported feeling "very safe," down from 73.6% in 2019. Meanwhile, outpatients' perceptions of safety have increased since the pandemic, jumping from 78.1% in 2019 to 81.9% in 2023.
The gap in safety perception between inpatient and outpatient settings is now 2.5 times wider than in 2019, according to Press Ganey.
Hospital patients reporting negative safety experiences most often described concerns related to staff members' skills or knowledge.
View the full report here.