Online patient safety education programme for junior doctors: is it worthwhile?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Professionalism Development

Background:

• Growing need for blended learning approaches in medical professionalism.
• Junior doctors participated in an online patient safety program.
• Focus on error reporting, open communication, and second victim support.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess program impact on junior doctors' knowledge, attitudes, and skills in patient safety.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the online learning methodology.
• Investigate improvements in error reporting, communication, and care for the second victim.

Main Methods:

• Pre- and post-questionnaires administered to 208 junior doctors.
• Measures included patient safety knowledge/attitudes, safety climate, and learning experience.
• 30% matched response rate (62 participants) for post-questionnaire.

Main Results:

• Significant immediate improvements in skills for incident reporting and error disclosure (p < 0.01).
• Enhanced self-rated knowledge and attitudes towards error reporting (p < 0.01).
• Participants favored interactive program elements; noted low rates of routine error reporting and information sharing.

Conclusions:

• Online medical error training effectively improved junior doctors' self-rated knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
• Workplace culture regarding error reporting may impede the practical realization of improved attitudes.
• Online patient safety education is valuable for professionalism and safety initiatives.