Patient safety attitudes of pharmacy students in an Ethiopian university: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

IntroductionPatient safety is a major health care concern and is being included in an undergraduate curriculum as it plays a major role in lessening harm. Therefore, we aim to assess the attitude of pharmacy students toward patient safety.MethodsA cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire containing 21 items was conducted at the University of Gondar among fourth and fifth year students. Data analysis was performed to calculate mean, standard deviation, percentages, and logistic regressions using SPSS software version 22 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Statistical significance was set at P<0.05.ResultsA total of 83 pharmacy students (fourth year groups=50, fifth year groups=33) participated in the study with response rate of 92%. Majority of the students 70/83 (84.33%) had the overall positive attitude of patient safety. Most of the respondents (80.7%) agree or strongly agree that after an error occurs, an effective strategy is to work hard to be more careful. Most of them (79.6%) believe that pharmacists should routinely spend part of their professional time working to improve patient care. About half (48.2%) of pharmacy students disagree or strongly disagree that pharmacists should discuss and report errors to an affected patient and their family even if the patient is not harmed. No significant association between the attitude of pharmacy students toward patient safety and their age, sex and year of study was found.ConclusionPharmacy students have the overall good attitude to patient safety. However, they claimed the culture and attitude within the pharmacy workplace lacked for patient safety. Moreover, standardized patient safety course should be considered in the curriculum for junior pharmacy students to improve their attitude toward patient safety.

Evaluation of patient safety culture among community pharmacists in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

“…Analysis of the data showed a significant difference in 16 dimensions between Gondar and Dessie town. The positive response rate of all the 16 items was higher in Dessie town participants: 7We have clear expectations about exchanging important prescription information across shifts, (8) In this pharmacy, we talk about ways to prevent mistakes from happening again, (9) Staff are treated fairly when they make mistakes, (10) This pharmacy helps staff learn from their mistakes rather than punishing them, (11) When a mistake happens, we try to figure out what problems in the work process led to the mistake, (12) When the same mistake keeps happening, we change the way we do things, (13) Mistakes have led to positive changes in this pharmacy, (14) This pharmacy places more emphasis on sales than on patient safety, (15) This pharmacy is good at preventing mistakes and (16) The way we do things in this pharmacy reflects a strong focus on patient safety (p<0.05).…”

“…In Ethiopia, there is limited evidence concerning patient safety culture in the healthcare system in general. Few studies on patient safety were done in a hospital setting [12][13][14][15]. However, none of the studies were stressed on the community pharmacy setting, which is the most accessible to the public.…”

Pharmacy students’ attitudes toward patient safety in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

“…In a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study that was conducted among a group of pharmacy students in an Ethiopian university to explore their attitudes toward patients' safety, the majority of students have expressed favorable attitudes toward patient safety. However, this study was conducted only in one university and among students in the fourth and fifth years of their pharmacy program [13]. Therefore, the findings of this study are not generalizable to other pharmacy students or pharmacy programs elsewhere, which necessitate the exploration of pharmacy students' attitudes in other universities and parts of the world.…”

“…A higher score indicated a more positive response to the patient safety factor. Items (11,(13)(14)(15)(16)24) were reverse scored, according to the instrument. Nine sub-scores were calculated for each participant corresponding to the nine patient safety factors.…”

“…For example, some universities provide patient safety courses using traditional lectures, simulation exercises, root cause analysis workshops, and other teaching methods [11,12]. Several studies have reported a positive attitude toward patient safety among medical students [13][14][15][16][17]. Improving healthcare students' patient safety knowledge, skills, and attitude can prepare future healthcare professionals to create and maintain a safe health care environment for patients, this can lead to decrease medication errors and improve patient safety [18,19].…”