Perspectives on patient safety among undergraduate nursing students.

Incorporating patient safety principles in academic and clinical education for health science professionals is necessary to support widespread adoption of safety practices. It is vital to understand nursing students' perspectives on patient safety and the extent to which patient safety is addressed in the classroom and clinical settings. In this cross-sectional study, students in all 4 years of an undergraduate program were asked to complete the Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey. Eighty-one percent (238 of 293) of students completed the questionnaire. Responses were favorable, with students reporting confidence in learning about a variety of patient safety competencies. Of note, there were decreasing levels of confidence in the third-year and fourth-year students and low-to-moderate correlation between classroom and clinical responses. These results support the importance of consistently engaging students in safety principles early in and throughout their health care programs. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.