Undergraduate medical students’ perceptions and intentions regarding patient safety during clinical clerkship

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate medical students’ perceptions and intentions regarding patient safety during clinical clerkships.MethodsCross-sectional study administered in face-to-face interviews using modified the Medical Student Safety Attitudes and Professionalism Survey (MSSAPS) from three colleges of medicine in Korea. We assessed medical students’ perceptions of the cultures (‘safety’, ‘teamwork’, and ‘error disclosure’), ‘behavioural intentions’ concerning patient safety issues and ‘overall patient safety’. Confirmatory factor analysis and Spearman’s correlation analyses was performed. In total, 194(91.9%) of the 211 third-year undergraduate students participated.Results78% of medical students reported that the quality of care received by patients was impacted by teamwork during clinical rotations. Regarding error disclosure, positive scores ranged from 10% to 74%. Except for one question asking whether the disclosure of medical errors was an important component of patient safety (74%), the percentages of positive scores for all the other questions were below 20%. 41.2% of medical students have intention to disclose it when they saw a medical error committed by another team member.ConclusionsMany students had difficulty speaking up about medical errors. Error disclosure guidelines and educational efforts aimed at developing sophisticated communication skills are needed. This study may serve as a reference for other institutions planning patient safety education in their curricula. Assessing student perceptions of safety culture can provide clerkship directors and clinical service chiefs with information that enhances the educational environment and promotes patient safety.

The attitudes of Korean medical students toward patient safety

“…Although none of the respondents had received formal patient-safety instruction, more than half were confident in reporting errors regardless of who made them. This was similar to the findings of previous studies [2,9,10]. However, over half were also afraid of initiating discussions as junior members.…”

“…However, the idea of patient safety is still underdeveloped in the context of undergraduate medical education, especially true in Korea. One Korean study found that 73.7% of all respondents positively assessed the importance of medical error disclosure, but that less than 20% had received education or training on how to disclose errors and thus had negative perceptions of the error disclosure culture [2].…”

A study to determine patient safety awareness and attitudes among medical students in a Malaysian University

“…They concluded that error reporting guidelines and educational methods aiming to develop better communication skills need to be taught at the undergraduate level to improve patient safety. [9] Awareness of the protocols of safety being used in a health-care organization is the first step to identifying any areas for improvement, since the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of health-care staff are critical in the culture of safety, as seen in an Italian study. [10] In a study published in the Journal of Surgical Education, the authors delivered a patient safety course for 1 week-2 nd -year medical students.…”

Medical Education: Curriculum Comparison between Brazil and Portugal

“…It seeks to meet the national guidelines proposing emancipation and autonomy based on ethical-professional principles. During the course, the methodology of learning is based on problems and, as another guiding axis of the curriculum, the questioning, whose epistemological justification relates to the paradigm of community educational organization, participatory and democratic (Lee, Hahm, & Lee, 2018).…”