Comparative Outcomes of a Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Curriculum Between Medical and Nursing Students

Patient safety (PS) and quality improvement (QI) are nascent concepts for most low- and middle-income countries in their quest for improving health care delivery. However, few studies explore how different professional learners engage with the same curriculum. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of a 4.5-day-long course on QI and PS on the knowledge, self-efficacy, and systems thinking of medical and nursing students.

A 4.5-day course on QI and PS, adapted from the Johns Hopkins patient safety curriculum, was implemented for a total of 4 batches of students, consisting of 2 batches of medical and nursing students at a private teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. The course consisted of lectures, interactive sessions, and hands-on skill workshops. Students' knowledge, self-efficacy, and system thinking were evaluated through precourse and postcourse assessments. Qualitative analysis was conducted for students' personal reflections on the contents of the course.

Both groups showed significant improvement in scores for all 3 components of assessment following this course: knowledge, systems thinking, and self-assessment of PS knowledge (self-efficacy) ( P <0.001). Medical students started with lower baseline precourse scores for all components but showed greater improvement than nursing students in self-efficacy ( P <0.001 for all domains). Nursing students demonstrated statistically equivalent improvement for knowledge (mean difference: -0.41, 95% CI: -1.05 to - 0.23) and greater improvement in systems thinking (mean difference: -0.22, 95% CI: -0.33 to -0.10). Thematic analysis revealed profession-specific reflections, with medical students emphasizing patient safety in practice and nursing students prioritizing communication and infection control.

This study highlights the feasibility and value of shared PS/QI training across professional groups. To maximize interprofessional learning, curricula should incorporate flexible strategies that accommodate discipline-specific perspectives, especially in LMICs where collaborative care models are critical to health system strengthening.