Attitudes Toward Patient Safety among Medical Students in Malaysia.

Sathia Prakash Nadarajan,Karuthan Chinna,Jeevitha Rajasingam,Sumitra Ropini Karuthan

doi:10.3390/ijerph17217721

Abstract

The biggest challenge in moving toward a safer healthcare system is patient safety culture—that is, the prevention of harm to patients. Safe medical practices can prevent doing harm to the patients. For this, healthcare professionals must have good attitudes toward patient safety. Medical education plays an important role in promoting patient safety and patient safety attitudes. A study was conducted among medical students in Malaysia to assess their perceptions toward patient safety, using the 26-items Attitudes Toward Patient Safety Questionnaire (APSQ-III). In the analysis, the average percentage of positive responses (APPR) were computed for each domain, and APPR values of ≥75 were used as an indicator of positive perception. Out of the nine domains of APSQ, the students’ attitude was positive in six—Safety Training (85.2%), Error Reporting (76.3%), Working Hours (89.5%), Error Inevitability (86.1%), Team Functioning (94.6%), and Patient Involvement (80.1%). The desired level of positive attitude was not met in Disclosure Responsibility (68.5%), Professional Incompetence (70.0%), and Safety Curriculum (71.1%). APRR for disclosure responsibility was high among the first-year students, but, generally, the effect wore off over the years of study. The results support the need to enhance perception on Disclosure Responsibility, Professional Incompetence, and Safety Curriculum among the medical students in Malaysia.

Highlights

The first World Patient Safety Day was commemorated on 17 September 2019 with the theme “Patient Safety: a global health priority”
Averagepositive positive response response rate rate (APRR) for disclosure responsibility was high among the first-year students, but, generally, the effect wore off over the years of study
Every day, countless patients are put at risk by unsafe care and end up with adverse events caused by the very system that was supposed to help them get better

Summary

Introduction

The first World Patient Safety Day was commemorated on 17 September 2019 with the theme “Patient Safety: a global health priority”. Every day, countless patients are put at risk by unsafe care and end up with adverse events caused by the very system that was supposed to help them get better. Based on World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, one in every 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care; the risk of patient death occurring due to a preventable medical accident, while receiving healthcare, is estimated to be one in 300; and 15% of all hospital expenses are incurred as a result of treating failures in patient safety [1]. Unsafe care is likely one of the 10 leading causes of death and disability across the world [1]. In the low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), about 134 million adverse events occur each year due to unsafe care

Methods

Results

Conclusion