Attitudes to patient safety amongst medical students and tutors: Developing a reliable and valid measure

Abstract

Background: Patient safety education is an increasingly important component of the medical school curricula. Aims: This study reports on the development of a valid and reliable patient safety attitude measure targeted at medical students, which could be used to compare the effectiveness of different forms of patient safety education delivery. Methods: The Attitudes to Patient Safety Questionnaire (APSQ) was developed as a 45-item measure of attitudes towards five patient safety themes. In Study 1, factor analysis conducted on the responses of 420 medical students and tutors, revealed nine interpretable factors. The revised 37-item APSQ-II was then administered to 301 students and their tutors at two further medical schools. Results: Good stability of factor structure was revealed with reliability coefficients ranging from 0.64 to 0.82 for the nine factors. The questionnaire also demonstrated good criterion validity, being able to distinguish between tutors and students across a range of domains. Conclusions: This article reports on the first attempt to develop a valid and reliable measure of patient safety attitudes which can distinguish responses between different groups. The predictive validity of the measure is yet to be assessed. The APSQ could be used to measure patient safety attitudes in other healthcare contexts in addition to evaluating changes in undergraduate curricula.

Views of teachers regarding medical errors and patient safety education

“…In the few PHCC with a high number of patients attending topic. WHO Patient Safety Curriculum Guide: Multiand work overload, participants showed that a shorter shift professional Edition seeks to fill the gap in patient safety for the doctors and taking breaks would reduce medical education by providing a comprehensive curriculum 8 error .These findings agree with those reported in 2009 by designed to build foundation knowledge and skills for all 7 Carruthers et al Teachers in this study did not agreed that health-care students that will better prepare them for shorter shift will reduce errors(mean score is 2.47).But they 4 clinical practice in a range of environments .This agreed that number of hours doctors work increases the curriculum guide provides 11 ready to teach patient safety likelihood of medical errors. topic.…”

Factor Analysis Methods and Validity Evidence

“…Thirty-three (34.7%) of the 95 factor analyses included all factor loadings for all items, making clear to the reader the distribution of items across factors. For example, Carruthers and colleagues 34 reported in their study that the item "All medical errors should be reported" loaded on the factor named "disclosure responsibility." Thirty (31.6%) analyses reported only factor loadings for items that met a certain criterion, but 32 (33.7%) reported no factor loadings.…”

Introducing patient safety to undergraduate medical students – A pilot program delivered by health care administrators

“…Standardized instruments for the assessment of patient safety culture are mainly catered for health care personnel such as clinicians and managers (Romano et al 2009). A valid instrument targeted at medical students has recently been developed but unfortunately had not come to our attention earlier (Carruthers et al 2009). The follow-up period in this study was short and we were only able to assess short-term impact.…”