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

Factors associated with self-reported medical errors among undergraduate health science students in southern Ethiopia

Introduction

Medical errors are not uncommon, but they are seldom reported. Patient safety practices are among the key areas for service improvement. This study aimed to assess factors associated with self-reported medical errors among undergraduate health science students in southern Ethiopia.

Methods

A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among health science students of Arba Minch University in 2018. The sample size was calculated using a single population proportion formula. A total of 287 medical students in their fourth year and above, nursing and midwifery students in their second year and above, and other health science students in their third year and above were included.

Results

The majority (82.1, 95%CI: 77.63-86.67) of the study participants had a 'good' knowledge score on patient safety. Approximately 62.5% (95%CI: 56.8-68.2) of the participants had a 'favorable' patient safety attitude. Only 38.6% (95%CI: 32.8-44.3) of the study participants had 'good' patient safety practices. At adjusted analysis, the practical attachment unit, having ever managed a patient independently, having ever witnessed harm to patients by colleagues or other healthcare workers, and having ever witnessed harm to a close friend or family member were statistically significantly associated with self-reported medical errors. Participants who were doing their practical clinical attachment in the surgical and obstetric units were three times more likely to self-report medical errors as compared to those practicing in the pediatrics, internal medicine, and other units (AOR = 2.72, 95%CI: 1.16-6.39.97). Students who had never managed a patient independently were less likely to self-report medical error (AOR = 0.24, 95%CI: 0.08-0.72). The odds of self-reporting medical errors were less among among participants who had not ever witnessed harm to patients by colleagues or other healthcare workers (AOR = 0.12, 95%CI: 0.05-0.29) and participants who had not ever witnessed harm to a close friend or family member (AOR = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.16-0.80).

Conclusion

One in five of the participants reported having harmed patients while practicing. Most of the students had good patient safety knowledge, while approximately two-thirds of the participants had a favorable attitude toward patient safety. Only 38.6% of the study participants had good patient safety practices. Having worked in surgical and obstetrics units, having managed a patient independently, and having witnessed harm to a patient were associated with self-reporting of medical errors.

Patient safety knowledge, attitude and practice among undergraduate health science students in South West Ethiopia

Background

Patient safety is minimizing the risk of unnecessary damage associated with healthcare to a minimum. It has been linked as a global precedence area where substantial knowledge gaps exist. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of the healthcare providers toward patient safety have a great influence on the delivery of safe patient care. Regardless of this, the issue has not been adequately addressed in Ethiopia.

Objective

The main aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice, and factors associated with patient safety practice among undergraduate health science students at Jimma University Institute of Health.

Methods

An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from May to November 2021. Data were collected from 678 undergraduate health science students using a pretested, structured and self-administered questionnaire. EPI data 3.1 was used for data entry, and SPSS version 25 was used for analysis. A binary logistic regression model was utilized to identify factors associated with outcome variables. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval and P < 0.05 were computed to determine the level of significance.

Results

Of the total students, only 293 (43.2%) and 308 (45.4%) had good knowledge and positive attitudes toward patient safety, respectively. Moreover, only 135 (19.9%) of the students had good practices regarding patient safety. Year of study [AOR = 3.75, 95% CI: (2.3, 9.3)], duration on practical attachment [AOR = 2.6, 95% CI: (1.2, 5.9)], and knowledge about patient safety [AOR = 2.9, 95% CI: (1.9, 3.4)] were associated with better patient safety practices.

Conclusion

In the current study the practice of patient safety among health science students was low and less than half of the students had good knowledge and favorable attitudes toward patient safety. Patient safety practices were influenced by the length of the clinical attachment, the study year, and the knowledge of patient safety. This calls for patient safety courses to be included in training curricula of undergraduate health sciences students.

Integrating patient safety education into pharmacy curriculum in Nigeria

Recognition has been given to patient safety and healthcare quality as central components of a functional health system which has resulted in increased advocacy for elaborate patient safety content in education and training programmes for health professionals. The World Health Organisation's patient safety curriculum is an evidence-based framework that provides a valuable resource for the training of healthcare professionals in enhancing patient safety. Other international organisations have also advocated for the need to restructure healthcare professionals' education to include the concept of patient safety. The ideal time to initiate patient safety education is suggested to be during schooling through curricula that inculcate learning from adverse events. This will prepare pharmacy students as future healthcare professionals who will become better prepared for clinical practice leading to improved healthcare quality and safety.

Determination of pharmacy students' patient safety approach using the theory of planned behaviour: a mixed-method study

OBJECTIVES

To investigate pharmacy students' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions and their behaviour towards patient safety using a theory of planned behaviour framework.

DESIGN

Mixed-methods research.

SETTING

Private university in Malaysia.

PARTICIPANTS

Pharmacy undergraduate students participated in the study. There were 18 students participated in the qualitative study and 272 students responded to the survey questionnaire.

METHODS

A convergent parallel-mixed method design, involving a quantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussions was used among pharmacy students in a private university in Malaysia. Qualitative data of transcribed verbatim texts were then subjected to a thematic content analysis framework. Multiple correlations were undertaken using the quantitative data to examine how the dependent variable (self-reported knowledge) related to the independent variables (attitudes, behavioural intentions, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Pharmacy students' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, behavioural intentions constructs led to their behaviour towards patient safety.

SECONDARY OUTCOME

The quantitative study revealed that there was a moderate positive correlation between students' self-reported knowledge and attitudes (r=0.48, p=0.03).

RESULTS

Pharmacy students' attitudes and perceived behavioural control constructs had positive correlations with pharmacy students' self-reported knowledge on patient safety. There was no correlation between students' self-reported knowledge and subjective norms (r=0.27, p=0.23). There was a weak positive correlation between students' self-reported knowledge and perceived behavioural control (r=0.39, p=0.04). There was no correlation between students' self-reported knowledge and behavioural intention (r=0.20, p=0.56).

CONCLUSIONS

Theory of planned behaviour constructs such as attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intentions of pharmacy students, defined their behaviour towards patient safety. Pharmacy students' attitudes and perceived behavioural control constructs were correlated with their self-reported knowledge on patient safety.

Patient Safety in the Eyes of Aspiring Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review of Their Attitudes

A culture of safety is important for the delivery of safe, high-quality care, as well as for healthcare providers' wellbeing. This systematic review aimed to describe and synthesize the literature on patient safety attitudes of the next generation of healthcare workers (health professional students, new graduates, newly registered health professionals, resident trainees) and assess potential differences in this population related to years of study, specialties, and gender. We screened four electronic databases up to 20 February 2020 and additional sources, including weekly e-mailed search alerts up to 18 October 2020. Two independent reviewers conducted the search, study selection, quality rating, data extraction, and formal narrative synthesis, involving a third reviewer in case of dissent. We retrieved 6606 records, assessed 188 full-texts, and included 31 studies. Across articles, healthcare students and young professionals showed overwhelmingly positive patient safety attitudes in some areas (e.g., teamwork climate, error inevitability) but more negative perceptions in other domains (e.g., safety climate, disclosure responsibility). Women tend to report more positive attitudes. To improve safety culture in medical settings, health professions educators and institutions should ensure education and training on patient safety.

Knowledge, attitude, practice and associated factors towards patient safety among nurses working at Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Patient safety has been identified as a global priority area. It is one of the most health care challenges. There is a rising number of patients' mortality in hospitals each year because of lapses in patient safety practice. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess knowledge, attitude, practice, and associated factors towards patient safety among nurses working at Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital.

METHODS

Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on 172 nurses working at Asella Referral and Teaching Hospital, Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The data were collected from nurses from December 28, 2020 to January 05, 2021 by using a pretested questionnaire. The data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.2.0.0 and analyzed using the SPSS version 23.0 software.

RESULTS

A total of 172 nurses were enrolled in to the study, resulting a response rate of 99.4%. The mean age of the nurses was 32.53 years. More than half 94(54.7%) of them were female. The majority 133(77.3%) of them were qualified for degrees and above. The majority 155(90.1%) of them had working experience of ≤13years. The nurse's level of good knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice towards patient safety was 58.7% (n = 101, [95% CI; 51.7, 66.7]), 52.9% (n = 91, [95% CI; 43.6, 61.4]), and 50% (n = 86, [95% CI; 43.6, 57%]) respectively. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed; working in the operation theatre unit [AOR = 5.01, 95% CI; 1.36, 18.46], having information on patient safety during initial education [AOR = 4.99, 95%CI; 1.87, 13.31], and having information on patient safety during continuing education [AOR = 2.85, 95% CI; 1.14, 7.12] were factors significantly associated with knowledge towards patient safety. Being male [AOR = 3.09, 95% CI; 1.38, 6.95], having working experience of >13 years [AOR = 8.37, 95% CI; 1.36, 51.70], having information on patient safety during initial education [AOR = 3.36, 95%CI; 1.11, 10.15], having information on patient safety during continuing education [AOR = 3.33, 95% CI; 1.25, 8.85], and having good Knowledge towards patient safety [AOR = 2.74, 95% CI; 1.21, 6.21] were factors significantly associated with attitude towards patient safety. Having information on patient safety during initial education [AOR = 5.35, 95%CI; 1.77, 16.17] and having a positive attitude towards patient safety [AOR = 3.02, 95% CI; 1.32, 6.91] were factors significantly associated with practice towards patient safety.

CONCLUSION

In the present study, more than half of the nurse's had good knowledge and positive attitude towards patient safety. However, only half of the nurses had good practice towards patient safety. Educational programs and training on patient safety may need to take place for nurses to abate these problems.

Attitudes of pharmacy students towards patient safety: a cross-sectional study from six developing countries

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the attitudes of undergraduate pharmacy students towards patient safety in six developing countries.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Participants were enrolled from the participating universities in six countries.

PARTICIPANTS

Undergraduate pharmacy students from the participating universities in six developing countries (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, India and Indonesia) were invited to participate in the study between October 2018 and September 2019.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Attitudes towards patient safety was measured using 14-item questionnaire that contained five subscales: being quality-improvement focused, internalising errors regardless of harm, value of contextual learning, acceptability of questioning more senior healthcare professionals' behaviour and attitude towards open disclosure. Multiple-linear regression analysis was used to identify predictors of positive attitudes towards patient safety.

RESULTS

A total of 2595 students participated in this study (1044 from Jordan, 514 from Saudi Arabia, 134 from Kuwait, 61 from Qatar, 416 from India and 429 from Indonesia). Overall, the pharmacy students reported a positive attitude towards patient safety with a mean score of 37.4 (SD=7.0) out of 56 (66.8%). The 'being quality-improvement focused' subscale had the highest score, 75.6%. The subscale with the lowest score was 'internalising errors regardless of harm', 49.2%. Female students had significantly better attitudes towards patient safety scores compared with male students (p=0.001). Being at a higher level of study and involvement in or witnessing harm to patients while practising were important predictors of negative attitudes towards patient safety (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Patient safety content should be covered comprehensively in pharmacy curricula and reinforced in each year of study. This should be more focused on students in their final year of study and who have started their training. This will ensure that the next generation of pharmacists are equipped with the requisite knowledge, core competencies and attitudes to ensure optimal patient safety when they practice.

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

BACKGROUND

There is a growing recognition of the importance of teaching patient safety to medical students to improve healthcare and minimize patients' harm; however, few studies evaluated the attitudes of pharmacy students toward patient safety. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes toward patient safety among pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacy students from four different universities using a self-administered questionnaire. The Attitudes to Patient Safety Questionnaire III (APSQ-III) was used to measure the attitude toward patient safety. The data were presented using descriptive statistics, such as percentages and means, and compared across gender using Student's t-test.

RESULTS

All of the students who agreed to participate and signed the consent form have completed the questionnaire. Of the 347 pharmacy students who participated in the study; 63% were enrolled in the Doctor of Pharmacy Program and 37% were enrolled in the Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences program. Only 46% of the participants received courses for patient safety mainly in the fourth year of their pharmacy program, and around 93% were interested to learn more about patient safety. A more positive attitude toward patient safety was reported in the domain of 'confidence to report errors', 'working hours as error cause', 'patient involvement in reducing error', and 'team functioning'. However, most negative attitudes were reported in the domains of 'Error inevitability' and 'Disclosure responsibility'. Gender differences were noticed in the attitude toward patient safety; female students had more positive attitudes in most domains of patient safety.

CONCLUSIONS

Around one-half of the surveyed pharmacy students did not receive any courses on patient safety. Our findings emphasize the need for including patient safety courses in the curricula of the different pharmacy programs given the patient safety training importance in improving the quality of patient care.

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

Objective

The study was aimed to explore patient safety culture of community pharmacists working in Dessie and Gondar towns, Northern Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1^st to 31^st March 2018. In this cross-sectional survey, the Pharmacy Survey on Patient Safety Culture (PSOPSC), developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), was used to collect data. PSOPSC is a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among staffs who work in community pharmacies of Dessie and Gondar towns. All staffs available on data collection period in the pharmacy were included. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 25 was used to enter and analyze the data.

Results

A total of 120 participants were approached and completed the questionnaire. Results from the study showed that high positive response rate was demonstrated in the domains of “Teamwork” (90.2%) followed by physical space and environment (83.1%). On the other hand, the result also identified that there is an enormous problem related to mistake communication (44.8%) and work pressure (45%). In addition, significant difference of percent positive responses were obtained across towns and staff working hours.

Conclusions

The patient safety culture of community pharmacists is appreciable especially with respect to their teamwork. Besides, urgent attention should be given to areas of weakness, mainly in the domain of “mistake communication” and “staffing and work pressure”.