A multi‐university assessment of patient safety competence during clinical training among baccalaureate nursing students: A cross‐sectional study

Aims and objectives To assess the perceived patient safety competence during clinical training of Saudi nursing students. Background Ensuring safety in healthcare settings requires improvements in the educational and clinical practice of professionals. Experts stressed that shared patient safety culture must be of primary importance; they also emphasised the resolute need for theoretically driven research approaches for patient safety competence in healthcare organisations and educational institutions. Design Descriptive, cross‐sectional design. Methods This study was conducted in six government universities in Saudi Arabia. A sample of 829 nursing students was surveyed using the health professional education in patient safety survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The study adhered to the STROBE guideline for cross‐sectional studies (See Supporting Information Appendix S1). Results The percentage of agreement on the items of the health professional education in patient safety survey ranged from 61.5%–76.5%. The dimension “understanding human and environmental factors” received the highest perceived competence, whereas the dimension “working in teams” received the lowest competence. Significant differences in students’ patient safety competence from different universities were reported. Male students perceived their competence in “working in teams” higher than the female students. Students in their internship year had significantly higher levels of competence in all the six dimensions of the health professional education in patient safety survey than students in the third‐ and fourth‐year levels. Conclusions Saudi nursing students have positive perceptions towards their patient safety competencies. Significant differences were found in the patient safety competence of nursing students between universities, gender and year of study. Relevance to clinical practice The results provide valuable insights and guidance for improving the patient safety competence of nursing students. The findings can be used to guide the creation of policies and interventions that may ensure the continuous development of patient safety competence of nursing students as they navigate the clinical area.