Enhancing senior nursing students' awareness and understanding of culture of safety

Ayotte, Emilie (2020) Enhancing senior nursing students' awareness and understanding of culture of safety. Practicum Report. Memorial University of Newfoundland. (Unpublished)

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (1MB)

Abstract

Background and Purpose: A culture of safety is the foundation for safe health care. It is built on a high awareness of real and potential safety issues, shared responsibility, and open and frequent communication at all levels of an organization. Learning about safety culture can help students recognize safety concerns and encourage the adoption of behaviours that support communication, teamwork, and collaboration, which are essential for preventing errors and improving the overall quality of care. The purpose of this practicum project was to develop a presentation and learning activities for fourth-year nursing students at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Methods: A literature review was conducted to examine the current evidence on culture of safety in health care, the need to teach nursing students, relevant content to include, and strategies and recommendations for teaching and learning. Several collaborative meetings were held with the course leader and instructors to plan the educational material. The presentation and learning activities were developed and presented to the students. Results: Four strategies that promote and improve the culture of safety of an organization are team training, safety huddles, handover communication, and incident reporting. Based on the findings and on concepts from adult learning theory and constructivism, a presentation and learning activities on safety culture and its strategies were developed. The learning activities consisted of a simulated safety huddle, a handover report communication exercise, and reflections on past experiences with patient safety, interprofessional collaboration, communication skills, and incident reporting. Conclusion: The presentation and learning activities on safety culture in health care can be presented to any nursing students. They could also be adapted to be presented to nurses or other health care professionals who are interested in learning more about safety culture.

Actions (login required)

View Item