Educating future leaders in patient safety

Abstract

Education of health care professionals has given little attention to patient safety, resulting in limited understanding of the nature of risk in health care and the importance of strengthening systems. The World Health Organization developed the Patient Safety Curriculum Guide: Multiprofessional Edition to accelerate the incorporation of patient safety teaching into higher educational curricula. The World Health Organization Curriculum Guide uses a health system-focused, team-dependent approach, which impacts all health care professionals and students learning in an integrated way about how to operate within a culture of safety. The guide is pertinent in the context of global educational reforms and growing recognition of the need to introduce patient safety into health care professionals’ curricula. The guide helps to advance patient safety education worldwide in five ways. First, it addresses the variety of opportunities and contexts in which health care educators teach, and provides practical recommendations to learning. Second, it recommends shared learning by students of different professions, thus enhancing student capacity to work together effectively in multidisciplinary teams. Third, it provides guidance on a range of teaching methods and pedagogical activities to ensure that students understand that patient safety is a practical science teaching them to act in evidence-based ways to reduce patient risk. Fourth, it encourages supportive teaching and learning, emphasizing the need to establishing teaching environments in which students feel comfortable to learn and practice patient safety. Finally, it helps educators incorporate patient safety topics across all areas of clinical practice.

Keywords:

• patient safety education
• WHO Patient Safety Curriculum Guide: Multiprofessional Edition

Acknowledgments

Enrique Acosta-Gio, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico; Jean Barry, International Council of Nurses, Switzerland; Jiri Vlcek, Charles University, Czech Republic; Nermin Yamalik, Hacettepe University, Turkey, Eleni Azarias and Reema Harrison, Sydney University, Australia.

Author contributions

Agnès Leotsakos (main author): writing of the paper; execution of the study. Antonella Ardolino: desk research and writing of the paper; Ronny Cheung: desk research and writing of the paper; Hao Zheng: writing of the paper, execution of the study; Bruce Barraclough: execution of the study, revised and approved final version of the paper; Merrilyn Walton: editing of the paper and execution of the study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.