Abstract

Objective: To assess the insight of medical students about teaching and inclusion of patient safety topics into the undergraduate medical curriculum.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study included 425 undergraduate medical students from first to final year of Army Medical College and was carried out from September 2019 to April 2020. Participants selected by non-probability convenience sampling completed a self-structured questionnaire. Items were loaded in four domains after running exploratory factor analysis. SPSS version 26 was used for data analysis.
Results: Almost 87.5% of students of all years had heard about patient safety and 26.5% were aware that the WHO had a curriculum. About 81.1% preferred workshops, 80.2% preclinical lectures and 78.1% clinical skill course for teaching. Perception for importance of the subject and its education received highest mean score, while about need to address patient safety and medical errors reporting received lowest mean score. A significant difference was found in perception about importance of patient safety among students of first and second year with lowest mean rank as compared to other two groups that is third and fourth & final year (p=0.006).
Conclusion: Majority of the students had an adequate knowledge about patient safety with a positive attitude towards its importance and teaching. They were less supportive of the need to address patient safety and medical errors reporting. Patient safety workshops, preclinical lectures and clinical skill courses were considered preferred methods of teaching.

Key words: Curriculum, medical, medical errors, patient safety, students, World Health Organization.