Teaching medical students about medical errors and patient safety: evaluation of a required curriculum.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effectiveness of a brief curriculum about patient safety and medical errors with third-year medical students.


METHODS
From 2000-03, third-year medical students at New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, were required to participate in a new curriculum on patient safety and medical errors during their family medicine clerkships. Five hundred seventy-two students participated in a four-hour curriculum that included interactive discussion, readings, a videotape session with a standardized patient, and a small-group debriefing facilitated by a family physician. Before and after participating in the curriculum, students were asked to complete questionnaires on self-awareness about patient communication and safety. Curriculum evaluations and follow-up surveys were also distributed. Responses to each statement on the before and after questionnaires were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for matched data.


RESULTS
Five hundred eleven (89%) students reported that the opportunity to present an error to a patient increased their confidence about discussing this issue with patients, and 537 (94%) students reported that they strongly agreed or agreed that the standardized patient and feedback exercise was a useful learning experience. A total of 535 before and after questionnaires were used in the analysis. A comparison of before and after questionnaire data revealed statistically significant increases in the self-reported awareness of students' strengths and weaknesses in communicating medical errors to patients (p <or= .01).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that awareness about patient safety and medical error can be increased and sustained through the use of an experiential curriculum, and the students rated this as a valuable experience.
Halbach
Joseph L
JL
Department of Family Medicine, New York Medical College, Munger 306, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
Sullivan
Laurie L
LL
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D008508:Medication Errors; D009518:New York; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires