title: Learning to ensure patient safety in clinical settings: comparing Finnish and British nursing students' perceptions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore and compare Finnish and British nursing students' perceptions of their learning about patient safety in clinical settings.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Patient safety culture and practices in different health care organisations and clinical units varies, posing challenges for nursing students' learning about patient safety during their clinical placements. Patient safety as a growing international concern has challenged health care professionals globally requiring a comprehensive review. International studies comparing nursing education about patient safety are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional comparative study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were final year preregistration nursing students from two universities of applied sciences in Finland (n = 195) and from two universities in England, UK (n = 158). The data were collected with the Patient Safety in Nursing Education Questionnaire and analysed with principal component analysis, Pearson Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney U tests and logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Finnish nursing students had significantly more critical perceptions on their learning about patient safety in clinical settings than their British peers. A strong predictor for differences was supportive and systems-based approaches in learning to ensure patient safety. Notably, fewer Finnish students had practiced reporting of incidents in clinical settings compared to British students. In both countries, the students held learning about patient safety in higher esteem compared to their learning experiences in clinical settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nursing students appear to want more learning opportunities related to patient safety compared to the reality in clinical settings. Learning systematically from errors in a supportive environment and having systems-based approaches to ensure patient safety are essential elements for nursing students' learning about safe practice. Finnish students seem to experience more barriers in learning about safe practices and to report errors than the British students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health care organisations and professionals with responsibilities for patient safety should seek to standardise the preparation of nursing students incorporating requisite international standards and benchmarks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.|Faculty of Health care and Social Services, Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, Lappeenranta, Finland.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tella
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Nancy-Jane
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Pirjo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Partanen
authors.affiliation: University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jamookeeah
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Marja-Leena
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lamidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Turunen
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004739:England; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety; D010465:Perception; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: clinical setting; learning; nursing education; nursing students; patient safety; supportive environment; systems-based approach