The Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety: developing a community of practice

There is a high incidence of preventable error in health care. Many of these errors are the result of poor teamwork between different health professionals and not listening to the patient voice. We describe changes in attitudes to patient safety from potential future health care leaders who participated in an interactive programme focusing on these attributes.

A total of 87 scholars from medicine, nursing and pharmacy participated in an annual 4-day intensive programme, repeated over 3 years. Their attitudes about patient safety were measured before and after the programme using the Attitudes to Patients Safety Questionnaire (APSQ3) and qualitative data about their experiences during the course. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative measures.

The majority showed shifts in attitudes, particularly about the value of teamwork, patients being more involved in their own care, the importance of learning about patient safety and the value of self-care as ways of reducing error. Qualitative data showed that the course was valuable in networking with like-minded people, having faculty members on site with a flattened hierarchy and being encouraged to promote change in their own workplaces.

We showed that an interprofessional immersive course can change the thinking of young clinicians in a way that may be able contribute to improved health care.