Abstract:

Background: The education of students related to patient safety is a predictor of the development of a safety culture and thereby increases patient safety in healthcare institutions. A growing emphasis is placed on the development of courses and topics that would enable comprehensive and structured patient safety-related education. In 2011, WHO published the Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide, consisting of 11 main topics. Methods: The research was conducted using a questionnaire containing 13 questions, completed by the all second-year students who previously attended the elective course Patient Safety in Healthcare Institutions and a control group of all third-year students that did not attend the course. The SPSS program (16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for processing and analysing the data. The research was conducted at the University of Applied Health Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. Results: The study included 170 students of the second and third years of the nursing study program. The conducted research showed a statistical difference in the responses between students of the second and third years, considering their previous education on patient safety. 90.36% of the second-year students stated that they applied safe practices to prevent drug-administration related incidents, while 70.73% of the third-year students reported the same. The difference in the responses is associated with prior education. Conclusion: Regardless of the year of the study, students showed a great interest in the education and learning of practical skills in patient safety.

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