Patient safety education for undergraduate nursing students: a scoping review protocol

The objective of the review is to examine the literature on patient safety and the teaching and learning strategies required to help students learn about patient safety in undergraduate nursing curricula in prelicensure nursing education programs.

Patient safety is a global concern, and health care professionals, including nurses who are on the frontline of health care delivery, should be equipped with the knowledge to enhance patient safety. Undergraduate nursing curricula should include the relevant patient safety content and supply nurse educators with teaching and learning strategies to help students acquire these skills.

Based on the Participants, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework, the eligible population will include nursing students who are enrolled in undergraduate nursing programs and nurse educators who teach in undergraduate nursing programs. The concept of interest is patient safety education, namely, the curricular content and teaching and learning strategies used to help nursing students learn the content. The context is prelicensure nursing education programs at college or university level. Eligible studies will include, but not be limited to, quantitative studies, observational, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies, systematic reviews, and opinion papers.

Online databases will be searched across MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Web of Science. JBI methodology for scoping reviews will be used to conduct the review. Pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria will be used to select relevant studies. Data will be extracted and synthesized from studies that describe patient safety content and teaching and learning strategies in prelicensure nursing education.