Learning to ensure patient safety in clinical settings: comparing Finnish and British nursing students’ perceptions

Aims and objectives To explore and compare Finnish and British nursing students’ perceptions of their learning about patient safety in clinical settings. Background Patient safety culture and practices in different health care organisations and clinical units varies, posing challenges for nursing students’ learning about patient safety during their clinical placements. Patient safety as a growing international concern has challenged health care professionals globally requiring a comprehensive review. International studies comparing nursing education about patient safety are lacking. Design A cross‐sectional comparative study. Method The participants were final year preregistration nursing students from two universities of applied sciences in Finland (n = 195) and from two universities in England, UK (n = 158). The data were collected with the Patient Safety in Nursing Education Questionnaire and analysed with principal component analysis, Pearson Chi‐Square and Mann–Whitney U tests and logistic regression. Results Finnish nursing students had significantly more critical perceptions on their learning about patient safety in clinical settings than their British peers. A strong predictor for differences was supportive and systems‐based approaches in learning to ensure patient safety. Notably, fewer Finnish students had practiced reporting of incidents in clinical settings compared to British students. In both countries, the students held learning about patient safety in higher esteem compared to their learning experiences in clinical settings. Conclusions Nursing students appear to want more learning opportunities related to patient safety compared to the reality in clinical settings. Learning systematically from errors in a supportive environment and having systems‐based approaches to ensure patient safety are essential elements for nursing students’ learning about safe practice. Finnish students seem to experience more barriers in learning about safe practices and to report errors than the British students. Relevance to clinical practice Health care organisations and professionals with responsibilities for patient safety should seek to standardise the preparation of nursing students incorporating requisite international standards and benchmarks.