Building capacity and capability for patient safety education: a train-the-trainers programme for senior doctors

To develop, implement and evaluate a training programme for senior doctors to become faculty leaders for patient safety training.

Senior doctors were recruited from across 20 hospitals in the North Western Deanery, England, UK. The intervention comprised a half-day course in patient safety theory, root cause analysis and small-group facilitation, following which participants were invited to sign up as faculty for a region-wide patient safety training programme for trainees 'Lessons Learnt'. Course evaluation comprised a prospective longitudinal study conducted in 2010-2012. Patient safety knowledge, attitudes and skills were evaluated pre and post course and retention further evaluated 8 months post course.

216 senior doctors volunteered as faculty of whom 122 were appointed. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the course. Objective scores of patient safety knowledge significantly improved immediately post course (MedianPre course=70%, MedianPost course=80%, p<0.001) and were sustained at 8 months (Median8 month post course=90%). Similarly, measures of attitudes and self-reported safety skills also significantly improved post course and were sustained. Upon completion of the course, 88/122 (72%) participants facilitated 213 'Lessons Learnt' sessions from January 2011 to July 2012 (mean 2, range 1-8 sessions per faculty member). Trainee satisfaction with faculty was high.

There is considerable appetite for senior doctors to engage with training in patient safety as teachers and learners. Training senior doctors in patient safety is feasible, acceptable and effective as a means of building capacity and capability for delivering training in this rapidly emerging field.