The Effect of Education on Knowledge, Attitude, and the Perception of Emergency Medicine Interns about Patient Safety Principles: An Education-oriented Interventional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of education on the attitude, knowledge, and perception of emergency medicine interns about patient safety principles. Methods: This was an education-oriented interventional study conducted on emergency medicine interns in Mashhad. The subjects were divided into intervention and control groups using a random number table. In the intervention group, education was based on the national patient safety protocol in the form of a group 4-hour meeting on the first or second day of introducing the interns to the ward. Results: A total of 163 individuals participated in this study in the educational intervention (n = 80) and control (n = 83) groups. The post-intervention results showed that the interns' perception of management and the causes of errors relatively improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (P value < 0.05). In addition, the interns in the intervention group had a higher awareness of the occurrence of errors and the error reporting systems compared to the control group (P value < 0.05). On the other hand, there was a significant difference between the interns in both groups in terms of their attitude and skills related to the patient safety principles (P value < 0.05), showing the interns' interest in learning and reporting regarding said safety principles. Conclusion: The results of this study show that teaching patient safety principles to emergency medicine interns had a significant positive effect on their knowledge, perception, attitude, and skills. Most of the interns acknowledged the possibility of avoiding the occurrence of errors.