Patient safety attitudes and behaviors of graduating medical students

As North American medical schools reformulate curricula in response to public calls for better patient safety, surprisingly little research is available to explain and improve the translation of medical students' knowledge and attitudes into desirable patient safety behaviors in the clinical setting. A total of 139 fourth-year medical students at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine, 96% of the 2010 graduating class, completed the Attitudes toward Patient Safety Questionnaire and a self-report of safety behaviors. The students were exposed to informal discussions of patient safety concepts but received no formal patient safety curriculum. Most students recognized errors and responded with attitudes supportive of patient safety but desired behaviors were less common. In particular, errors went unreported, owing, in part, to the relationships of power and social influence undergirding the traditional authority gradient in the culture of medicine. A deeper understanding of patient safety attitudes, behavior, and medical culture is required to better inform instructional design decisions that influence desired patient safety behaviors and improve patient care.