Patient safety: nursing students' perspectives and the role of nursing education to provide safe care

Abstract

VAISMORADI M., SALSALI M. & MARCK P. (2011) Patient safety: nursing students' perspectives and the role of nursing education to provide safe care. International Nursing Review58, 434–442 Background and Aim: Nurses as the largest group of healthcare providers are in the best position to improve patient safety. In preparing future nurses, nurse educators have an important role in developing the knowledge, skills and attitudes among nursing students related to patient safety. The aim of this study was to explore Iranian nursing students' perspectives regarding patient safety and the role of nursing education in developing their capabilities to provide safe care. Methods: A purposeful sampling strategy was used to recruit 17 junior and senior nursing students for qualitative, semi‐structured interviews. Content analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted to identify several relevant themes. Findings: Three main themes emerged from the data analysis: ‘safety as patient comfort’, ‘not being knowledgeable or experienced enough’ and ‘being helped to internalise the principles and values of patient safety’. The third theme consisted of two categories: ‘adopting a humanistic approach towards patients’ and ‘practising conscientiously in the workplace’. Conclusion: The present study adds insights on how nursing students understand and may be helped to internalise concepts of patient safety within their practice. Nursing education curriculum designers need to go beyond theoretical concepts of patient safety education and devise strategies to increase the application of safety knowledge and competencies in nursing practice.

Views of second year nursing students on impediments to safety in the clinical setting: Q-methodology

“…There was consensus that patient protection is fundamental to preserving clinical safety. This finding supports previous research that identified holistic patient well-being as central to undergraduate students' perspectives about safety [12,28] . The findings of this study also characterized unsafe clinical milieus by the absence of an overt focus on safety, appropriate professional development, and engaged competent educators.…”

“…Overall, students with greater theoretical knowledge had higher clinical knowledge and skills compared to those students who had limited theoretical exposure. They agree with the premise of students need time in transitioning knowledge for safe 'deliberate, conscientious practice' [12] . Time offer opportunities for novice learners to engage in critical dialogue with educators about patient safety as lived.…”

“…Vaismoradi and associates [12] reported that students want to protect patients during their clinical learning. They contended that students were most satisfied with their transition into clinical when they had been exposed to practical rather than theoretical knowledge.…”

Nursing students' perspectives and suggestions on patient safety—Implications for developing the nursing education curriculum in Iran

“…Fifty one teaching contact hours are allocated to pharmacology in 4 years. Therefore, nursing students often graduate without meaningful or practical knowledge of patient safety (Vaismoradi et al, 2011).…”

“…As the product of nurses' shared values and beliefs, medication safety can be taught, developed and internalised in undergraduate nursing programmes (Butterworth et al, 2011) to transform safety culture (Reid and Catchpole, 2011;Vaismoradi et al, 2011).…”