Patient safety in undergraduate curriculum - medical students' perception

Abstract

Patient safety has emerged as a distinct healthcare discipline and has become a core curricular component in some medical schools. At the authors’ institution, an undergraduate program on patient safety has been introduced. The present study aimed at assessing our students’ perception and knowledge on patient safety issues. A self-administered voluntary questionnaire survey was conducted on 130 forth-year medical students with no prior exposure to patient safety teaching. Twenty-five questionnaire items were used to assess their perceptions on the causes and handling of errors, knowledge on patient safety issues, and attitudes towards patient safety teaching. The results showed that the majority of students agreed that medical errors were inevitable but over 25% opined that ‘competent physicians do not make errors’. The majority disapproved the practice of non-disclosure of error; whilst 6.3% would not address ‘near miss’ events, and 10% did not support an active reporting system. Twenty-seven percent did not agree that uncertainty should be tolerated in patient care, and over 80% agreed that the most effective strategy to prevent error is ‘to work harder and be more careful’. A knowledge gap on patient safety issues existed. Over 80% of students supported the introduction of our new undergraduate program. In conclusion, while our students were aware of medical errors being inevitable, they appeared to lack an appreciation of the multidisciplinary approach to the management of errors. A formal curriculum on patient safety is urgently needed in this locality and was found to be supported by our students.