From increasing use of sepsis packages to simplifying diagnostic test ordering to improving patient satisfaction with consent procedures, medical students at the University College of Medicine Ohio State has developed projects to address real-world patient safety risks in clinical settings.
This course is part of the university’s four-year health system scientific studies focusing on safety, quality, and how different healthcare specialties and specialties work together. to improve patient care.
Instead of keeping medical professionals waiting to learn certain concepts until later in their careers, some medical schools are beginning to include patient safety in their curricula for graduates. be more prepared to enter the workforce.
“Why wait for a doctor, nurse or someone who has been in practice for many years to allow them to take a course like this or get a certificate?” Frank Filipetto, dean of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. “Let’s not let them develop bad habits.”
However, medical schools must convince students and academic leaders that patient safety deserves priority. Schools looking to implement safe curricula face barriers including student disengagement and unequal internal support to dedicate resources to these initiatives.
“The biggest challenge is convincing students that they need this curriculum and because it’s a change, and they don’t see other medical schools doing this,” says Filipetto. “I’ve had students say, ‘I don’t need to learn this.’” To counter these objections, professors explain how safety research benefits students by upskilling their benefits, in addition to benefiting patients, he said.
The University of Texas Osteopathic Medicine is one of the innovators in the field. Filipetto said a few years ago the school decided to emphasize safety so that students understand the importance of preventing harm.
“My vision at the time was: We really need to change the way healthcare is delivered in this country because we have serious medical errors and safety problems,” he said. patient safety leading to death.
With support from the Texas Institute for Health Care Improvement and SaferCare, the school first developed a curriculum and a pilot program to prepare 10 students to take the IHI exam to qualify for the exam. they are recognized as a Certified Patient Safety Specialist. Filipetto said nine students passed the first attempt, exceeding expectations.
The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine has refined its safety curriculum and now requires a two-week course and exam in the third year of medical school. According to the university, 98% of students graduate with certificates in patient safety.
Students learn about the foundations of patient safety, including hospital leadership, adverse events reporting culture, and performance measurement and improvement. They also study how to identify the root cause of security failures to inform solutions.
IHI Vice President Patricia McGaffigan said more than 5,000 students have earned the Certified Patient Safety Specialist credential since the exam launched in 2012. She said it’s been since the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. At the start of its program, the school’s graduates represent about 10% of those who passed the test. She said IHI is looking for additional academic partners to expand its efforts.
At Ohio State University School of Medicine, health systems science students take a four-year course to complete IHI quality and safety modules, said Dr. patients, while also participating in group work to apply the lessons to clinical situations. Applied health systems science course.
In their final year, students participate in quality improvement projects that identify areas where care can be improved and work with faculty and others on quality initiatives. quality and safety, such as a campaign to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
The university ultimately wants safety to be incorporated into the entire curriculum, says Duncan. “That’s almost seen as a niche area,” she said. “Once it is demonstrated that patient safety and quality are the fabric of medical education and medical practice, that will make the program successful.”
Jawad Al-Khafaji, director of quality improvement and patient safety, said the University of Michigan School of Medicine has a similar approach that is personalized to students based on interests and expertise in the field. their future. He said students also work on projects that emphasize measures to prevent adverse events.
“We’ve had quite a few very impactful projects that have resulted in changes to some of the practices right here,” says Al-Khafaji, internist at VA Ann Arbor Health Care System. University of Michigan” and at Veterans Health Administration facilities. .
Filipetto says medical school graduates who are certified in patient safety are attractive to employers because very few doctors have formal training in the subject. New doctors trained with the background, he said, are ready to perform tasks such as participating in patient safety and quality committees.
Trying to recruit first-year medical students to take patient safety electives in a field like global public health is difficult because most don’t know patient safety, said Al-Khafaji. and what quality improvement is or why they are important.
In addition to convincing students, advocates of patient safety education have also faced skepticism from academic leaders, said Lillee Gelinas, director of patient safety at the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Texas said.
“The two most common questions we get—not just from medical schools, but other medical schools—are: ‘How much does it cost and where does it fit into the curriculum?'” Gelinas said, into other courses.”
Academic leaders are often reluctant to borrow best practices from other schools or from third parties, says Stephanie Mercado, executive director of the National Association for Health Quality. that they had to create home safety programs from scratch.
“One of the big misconceptions I have experienced when working with academic institutions is that they think there is a benefit to their institution building a custom program,” says Mercado. “They believe it represents a secret, that they are bringing to market something that no one else has,” she said.
“Programs that are trying to grow these de novo will miss the opportunity for their students to meet their peers where they are,” says Mercado. “They need to speak the same language, the same vocabulary, the same set of tools, and we do that by tuning to a standard.”
