Patient Safety Attitudes Among Saudi Medical Students and Interns: Insights for Improving Medical Education

Patient safety (PS) is a basic principle of healthcare worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, medical colleges have integrated PS modules into their regular curricula. This study investigated undergraduate medical students' and interns' attitudes regarding PS at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah.

The survey was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Rabigh, KAU, Jeddah. Data were collected using the APSQ-III online questionnaire from medical students and interns. The questionnaire comprises 26 items covering various PS issues across nine domains.

493 students and interns participated (233 females, 47.3%, and 260 males, 52.7%). The participants were distributed as follows: 114 (23.1%) from the fourth year, 102 (20.7%) from the fifth year, 145 (29.4%) from the sixth year, and 132 (26.8%) interns. The participants' scores on most items showed a negative attitude. A gender comparison showed that males mean score was significantly higher than females in the few key domains such as "patient safety training received" (p = 0.001), "working hours as a cause of error" (p = 0.002), "team functioning" (p < 0.001), "patient involvement in reducing errors" (p = 0.002), and the "importance of patient safety in the curriculum" (p < 0.001). No significant variance was noticed between interns' and medical students' mean scores across the nine key domains.

The findings highlight that most participants' attitudes needed to be more positive. Gender disparities were found in PS attitudes among Saudi medical students and interns, while no significant variance was noted between interns' and medical students' scores.