Building a safer foundation: the Lessons Learnt patient safety training programme.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Junior doctors require effective patient safety training.
• Existing training programs may not adequately address practical safety challenges.
• A novel training approach was needed to enhance safety culture in medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, implement, and evaluate a new patient safety training program for junior doctors.
• The program, 'Lessons Learnt: Building a Safer Foundation,' aimed to improve safety knowledge, skills, and behaviors.
• To assess the impact on trainees' attitudes and the potential for broader organizational change.

Main Methods:

• A prospective pre-intervention/post-intervention study was conducted across 16 UK Foundation Programmes.
• 1169 participants, including trainees and faculty, were involved.
• Training comprised monthly trainee-led sessions with case discussions and incident analysis, facilitated by trained senior doctors.

Main Results:

• High participant satisfaction was reported.
• Significant improvements were observed in objective patient safety knowledge scores and skills.
• Trainees showed enhanced perceived control and behavioral intentions regarding safety, and reported more safety incidents post-training.

Conclusions:

• Patient safety training can be effectively implemented and sustained to improve junior doctor performance.
• The 'Lessons Learnt' program demonstrates potential for positive organizational impact.
• Medical education bodies should consider adopting and adapting this approach to foster engagement in quality and safety improvement.