Integrating patient safety in the existing undergraduate medical curriculum

Abstract

The field of medicine has made significant advancements owing to multiple scientific innovations, and the outcome is quite evident in terms of improvement in the health outcomes. The aim of the current review is to understand the magnitude of the problem, scope of patient safety in undergraduate medical education, and components of the same. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out in the PubMed search engine and World Health Organization website. Overall, 20 articles were selected based upon the suitability with the current review objectives and analyzed. Keywords used in the search include patient safety and medical education in the title alone only. If we really aim to minimize the errors on our part and thereby improve the patient safety, the ideal approach will be to train the undergraduate medical students about different aspects of patient safety during their training period. We must understand that mere knowledge about patient safety (Knows level in Miller's Pyramid) will not serve the desired purpose. Rather, the better approach will be to target knows how and even does level in Miller's Pyramid, as ensuring patient safety is predominantly a skill. To conclude, patient safety curriculum is an important component of the medical undergraduate training. The need of the hour is to acknowledge the importance of patient safety, plan for its integration within the existing curriculum, and implement the same with the help of faculty members.