Nursing Students’ Perception of Patient Safety Culture During the Covid-19 Pandemic – Results of a Pilot Study

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic posed health and social threats and directly affected the quality and safe care. Many nursing students had mandatory practical training in hospitals to help the national system respond to the crisis. The investigation of nursing students’ perceptions of patient safety culture (PSC) might be beneficial in identifying safety areas that need improvement.

Aim: The pilot study aimed to investigate nursing students’ perception of PSC during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The data were collected using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture - Nursing Students (HSOPS-NS). The HSOPS-NS tool was distributed online via the Google Forms platform between February and April 2021. The respondents studied in the 3^rd year of the bachelor’s degree in nursing (n = 66). Three nursing faculties from 3 regions in Slovakia were addressed. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, frequency) was used for the sample characteristics and the HSOPS-NS tool. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal Wallis test analysed associations between sociodemographic data. The predictors of outcome dimensions of the HSOPS-NS were analysed by a multiple regression analysis.

Results: The nursing students evaluated the overall patient safety grade as very acceptable. Concerning PSC dimensions, the best-rated dimensions were “Feedback & communication about the error” (55.04%) and “Communication openness” (53.53%). The worst-rated dimensions were “Frequency of events reported” (33.32%) and “Staffing” (35.22%). A significant relationship was found between the perception of PSC and age, current area/unit, awareness of reporting systems, and supervision. The overall patient safety grade, the number of reported events, the number of reported events by nursing students were significantly predicted by several PSC dimensions (p ≤ 0.05).

Conclusions: The nursing students’ perspective on PSC revealed a weak perception of reporting adverse events. The awareness of reporting adverse events requires an increase in theoretical knowledge and the support of nursing students during their clinical training. A regular and comprehensive evaluation of PSC may strengthen patient safety and the overall awareness of patient safety among nursing students.