Posters
Presentation Type
Poster
Discipline Track
Patient Care
Abstract Type
Research/Clinical
Abstract
Introduction: Preventable medical errors are currently the third leading cause of death in the United States following heart disease and cancer (1). Early exposure to patient safety knowledge may lead to students to deliver safer care in their clerkship and residency years. This study was designed to assess the change in knowledge from earlier exposure and education during pre-clinical years and its impact on interest and knowledge about patient safety.
Methods: For the past four years, a patient safety training has been conducted for interested first and second-year medical students and responses are assessed through a pre-test, immediate post-test, 3-month post-test, and 6-month post-test. The survey assesses student knowledge on various aspects of patient safety, identifying the correct course of action in different scenarios concerning patient safety.
Results:The average percentage of correct answers on patient safety knowledge-based questions was 71.4% on the pre-test training and decreased to 68.4% in the 6-month post-test . The percent of students who considered themselves to be well-versed in different aspects of patient safety was 15.2% in the pre-test training and increased to 75% in the 6-month post-test.
The percent of students that plan to incorporate patient safety techniques into their future practice was 97% in the pre-test training and 100% in the 6-month post-test.
The percent of students who believed that patient safety can have a large impact on health outcomes was initially 97% in the pre-test training and 98.3% in the 6-month post-test.
Conclusion:Improvement in patient safety knowledge amongst students immediately after training is promising. Although the percentage of correct answers decreased over time, students exhibited more knowledge on patient safety topics immediately after training than they had prior to any patient safety training. The lack of statistically significant findings can most likely be attributed to small sample size and will likely improve with further data collection.Continued training sessions will solidify knowledge about patient safety in preclinical years and potentially in clerkship years, and will allow for students to gain confidence in their knowledge of patient safety and medical errors.
Academic/Professional Position
Medical Student
Mentor/PI Department
Internal Medicine
Recommended Citation
Habenicht, Daniel; Dharwadkar, Niti; Gatiganti, Aishwarya; Panjwani, Sahar; Nwoschua, Daniel; Muenchow, Lauren; and Campo Maldonado, Jose, "Medical Students Preventing Medical Errors: A Student-Led Approach to Patient Safety in Preclinical Curriculum" (2023). Research Symposium. 3.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/somrs/2022/posters/3
Included in
Medical Students Preventing Medical Errors: A Student-Led Approach to Patient Safety in Preclinical Curriculum
Introduction: Preventable medical errors are currently the third leading cause of death in the United States following heart disease and cancer (1). Early exposure to patient safety knowledge may lead to students to deliver safer care in their clerkship and residency years. This study was designed to assess the change in knowledge from earlier exposure and education during pre-clinical years and its impact on interest and knowledge about patient safety.
Methods: For the past four years, a patient safety training has been conducted for interested first and second-year medical students and responses are assessed through a pre-test, immediate post-test, 3-month post-test, and 6-month post-test. The survey assesses student knowledge on various aspects of patient safety, identifying the correct course of action in different scenarios concerning patient safety.
Results:The average percentage of correct answers on patient safety knowledge-based questions was 71.4% on the pre-test training and decreased to 68.4% in the 6-month post-test . The percent of students who considered themselves to be well-versed in different aspects of patient safety was 15.2% in the pre-test training and increased to 75% in the 6-month post-test.
The percent of students that plan to incorporate patient safety techniques into their future practice was 97% in the pre-test training and 100% in the 6-month post-test.
The percent of students who believed that patient safety can have a large impact on health outcomes was initially 97% in the pre-test training and 98.3% in the 6-month post-test.
Conclusion:Improvement in patient safety knowledge amongst students immediately after training is promising. Although the percentage of correct answers decreased over time, students exhibited more knowledge on patient safety topics immediately after training than they had prior to any patient safety training. The lack of statistically significant findings can most likely be attributed to small sample size and will likely improve with further data collection.Continued training sessions will solidify knowledge about patient safety in preclinical years and potentially in clerkship years, and will allow for students to gain confidence in their knowledge of patient safety and medical errors.