CPHQ Assessment 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A healthcare quality professional is selecting a tool to assess patient safety culture. Which instrument is MOST widely validated for this purpose in US hospitals?
- HCAHPS survey
- AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) (Correct answer)
- Press Ganey satisfaction survey
- Picker Institute survey
Correct answer: AHRQ Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS)
The AHRQ HSOPS is the most widely used and validated tool specifically designed to measure patient safety culture dimensions in US hospitals.
Question 2: When conducting a health needs assessment for a community, which data source provides population-level mortality and morbidity statistics?
- Electronic health records from a single hospital
- CDC WONDER database and vital statistics registries (Correct answer)
- Patient satisfaction scores
- Staff competency assessments
Correct answer: CDC WONDER database and vital statistics registries
The CDC WONDER database and vital statistics registries provide validated population-level data on mortality and morbidity for community health needs assessments.
Question 3: A quality team wants to assess whether a new hand hygiene protocol is being followed. Which assessment approach directly measures compliance behavior?
- Reviewing policy documents
- Conducting secret shopper observations (Correct answer)
- Analyzing hand sanitizer purchase invoices
- Surveying staff about their intentions
Correct answer: Conducting secret shopper observations
Direct observation (secret shopper or covert auditing) is the most accurate method to assess actual compliance behavior rather than self-reported or proxy measures.
Question 4: In the CPHQ framework, 'gap analysis' during organizational assessment refers to:
- Identifying the difference between current performance and desired standards (Correct answer)
- Measuring the time gap between care delivery steps
- Analyzing communication gaps between departments
- Calculating financial deficits in quality programs
Correct answer: Identifying the difference between current performance and desired standards
Gap analysis compares current state performance against established benchmarks or desired standards to identify areas requiring improvement.
Question 5: A CPHQ candidate is evaluating a risk assessment matrix. Which combination correctly characterizes risk level?
- Frequency only determines risk level
- Severity and likelihood together determine risk priority (Correct answer)
- Cost of mitigation determines risk level
- Regulatory attention determines risk level
Correct answer: Severity and likelihood together determine risk priority
Risk matrices assess risk by multiplying or combining the severity (impact) of potential harm with the likelihood (probability) of occurrence.
Question 6: Which statistical measure is MOST appropriate when assessing the central tendency of patient wait times that contain extreme outliers?
- Mean
- Median (Correct answer)
- Mode
- Range
Correct answer: Median
The median is resistant to extreme outliers and better represents the typical patient experience when wait time data is skewed.
Question 7: A hospital is conducting an environmental assessment prior to launching a new quality initiative. Which tool would BEST identify internal strengths and external threats?
- Run chart
- SWOT analysis (Correct answer)
- Fishbone diagram
- Pareto chart
Correct answer: SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is the standard environmental assessment tool that examines both internal and external factors.
CPHQ Assessment 2
A healthcare quality professional is selecting a tool to assess patient safety culture.
Which instrument is MOST widely validated for this purpose in US hospitals?