Knowledge and Perceptions of Patient Safety and Patient Safety Culture in a Dental School: A Qualitative Study
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The concepts of patient safety and patient safety culture are important to prevent unintentional harm to patients while under the care of clinical teams. The problem is the knowledge and perceptions of students, dental faculty, and dental auxiliaries at the research site with respect to patient safety and patient safety culture are not known. The purpose of this basic qualitative study determined the knowledge and perceptions of patient safety and patient safety culture amongst clinical staff and recent dental graduates as it relates to the provision of clinical dental services at a teaching dental hospital within a school of dentistry in the English-Speaking Caribbean. How knowledge and perceptions on patient safety develop and how the overarching patient safety culture in dental school settings influences the development of knowledge and skill to maintain patient safety are unknown. Reason’s Swiss cheese model of adverse occurrences and Wenger’s communities of practice provided the theoretical underpinnings to investigate the study and explain the results. Three research questions explored the meanings of patient safety for recent dental graduates, clinical teaching faculty, and dental auxiliaries and attempted to understand the norms and behaviors related to the patient safety culture in a dental school setting. An online, anonymous questionnaire was used to collect qualitative data from 28 research participants who met the inclusion criteria. Key findings from thematic analysis uncovered the clinical knowledge-based framework for understanding patient safety and patient safety culture, the use of various members of the clinical team inclusive of peers as gatekeepers for maintaining patient safety, and students’ understanding of personal limitations related to clinical competency as part of patient safety management. The main recommendation includes incorporating a patient safety course in the clinical curriculum.
Description
item.page.type
Other