Purpose: To share strategies for successful undergraduate patient safety program implementation.
Background: Patient safety (PS) remains a unified global initiative to improve patient outcomes and experiences. Physicians and medical students (MS) play key roles in PS, yet PS undergraduate medical education (UME) experiences are heterogeneous, sparse and often optional. We describe our successful introduction of UME PS education.
Methods: Initial group PS didactics included administration of a needs assessment pretest to all 46 third-year MS prior to clinical rotation inception. Students were then enrolled in a commercially available certified PS program (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) with voluntary completion requirement. PS didactics were scheduled monthly as part of a yearlong student clerkship school and included resident-led sessions. On-going self-learning via on-line modules was encouraged/expected. Monthly progress reports were generated and shared at clerkship school sessions to support continued student module completion. Students were publically awarded PS pins upon finishing the modules. A post-course survey was given for student feedback.
Results: All students completed pretest/post-program survey. Pretest PS knowledge score = 46%. 83% reported this as their first exposure to PS. 72% planned on completing the program. 91% have voluntarily completed certification /mastered post-module testing. Overall students reported satisfaction with resident tutors being well received.
Discussions: Physicians and MS as future physician leaders are essential players on the PS team. UME PS schooling can be indispensable preparation for all providers. We have demonstrated longitudinal integration of PS education using a combination of group and independent learning with premade validated curriculum is both possible and beneficial.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2021, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Clerkship Coordinator, Patient Care, Systems-Based Practice & Improvement, UME, Quality & Safety,
Zarah Rosen, MD Candidate, Class of 2021, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Faun Botor, MD Candidate, Class of 2021; Emily Guyaux, MD Candidate, Class of 2021; Melody Rasouli, MD MBA; Diana Pena, MD Candidate, Class of 2021; Nora Doyle, MD MPH MSc
