The Impact of Patient Safety Training on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residents' Attitudes and Knowledge: A Mixed Method Case Study.

摘要

It is estimated that in the United States, more than 40,000 patients are injured each day because of preventable medical errors. Patient safety experts and graduate medical education accreditation leaders recognize that medical education reform must include the integration of safety training focused on error causation, system engineering, and human factors theory during the medical training period to reduce medical errors. Oral and maxillofacial surgery residents train in high-risk medical environments and are exposed to the same threat of error-occurrence as their colleagues in other medical, surgical, and anesthesia residency programs, yet oral and maxillofacial surgery residency programs are not required to integrate the patient safety standards of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).;The purpose of this study was to explore resident risk exposure and examine the impact of integrating a patient safety training program on the safety knowledge and attitudes of residents in one oral and maxillofacial surgery residency program. The participants of this mixed method case study were all first and second-year residents and all faculty of a four-year oral and maxillofacial surgery residency program. Residents completed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School patient safety program and completed the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire, (Sexton et al., 2006) and the Test of Patient Safety Knowledge (Kerfoot et al., 2007a) as pre and posttest measures. Residents and faculty participated in in-depth interviews to gain qualitative data on resident risk exposure, post-intervention safety knowledge, and perceived value of integrating patient safety training in the program curriculum to prevent error-occurrence.;The results of this study suggest that oral and maxillofacial surgery residents in one residency program face similar risks as other residents training in high-risk environments, and respond well to patient safety training initiatives evidenced by accurate assessments of safety culture, acquisition of requisite safety knowledge, insight, and demonstrated behavioral changes. Further inquiry and research may validate these findings.