Patient safety education and perceptions of safety culture in American and Canadian urological residency training...

INTRODUCTION To assess the perception of patient safety culture and the infrastructure to support patient safety (PS) education within American and Canadian urological residency programs.

A needs assessment was developed by experts in patient safety. The survey contained items about prior PS education, perceived value of learning PS, components of an ideal PS curriculum, and desired resources to facilitate PS education. Select items from the validated AHRQ Survey on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS) were also included. The survey was distributed electronically (12/2018-2/2019) to all urology residents (RES) and program directors (PD) of urological residency programs via the Society of Academic Urologists. All responses were anonymous.

A total of 26 PD (18.3%; 26/142) and 100 RES (6.7%; 100/1,491) completed the survey. Nearly all RES received PS training (79%), but this was lower for PD (42%). The majority of RES and PD felt that PS was an important educational competency (RES = 83%; PD = 89%) and a pathway for academic success (RES 74%; PD 84%). Both groups desired an online PS curriculum (RES = 69%; PD = 68%) with error causation models (RES = 42%; PD = 52%) as the primary topic to cover. Assessment of safety culture confirmed safety is a priority, but only 1 PD (5%; 1/19) and 25 RES (25%; 25/100) rated their residency program's overall safety grade as 'excellent'.

PS education remains a priority for program directors and urological trainees. Both groups called for additional resources from urological professional societies for this education. To that end, an online, centralized, freely accessible PS curriculum is under development.