Pilot project "Patient-Safety" in Medical Education

Since the summer term 2009 the study project "Patientensicherheit - Der klinische Umgang mit Patienten- und Eingriffsverwechslungen sowie Medikationsfehlern" (Patient Safety - the clinical handling of patients - and mistaking of procedures as well as medication errors) is offered within the Modellstudiengang Medizin. Seminars on patient safety in Germany so far mainly address trained doctors and health economists. In contrast, this study project on patient safety should at an early stage contribute to a "culture of discussing and preventing mistakes" - an aspect that is little established in clinical medicine, but also in medical training. For this purpose, a broad variety of courses was developed, which - relying on problem-oriented learning - enables the students to analyse so-called adverse events (AE) and develop adequate prevention measures on the basis of the insights gained by this analysis. Therefore, theoretical lessons are complemented by discussing prototypical clinical cases. These discussions are moderated by experienced clinicians. After completing the seminar, students showed a significant increase (comparison of means) in the self-assessed qualifications "Wissen zu Patientensicherheit" (Knowledge of Patient Safety) and "Wahrnehmung von Risikosituationen" (Appreciation of Risk Situations). All in all, the students rated their training success with a grade of 1.5 (good).