EXAMINATION OF NURSING STUDENTS’ MEDICAL ERROR ATTITUDES WITHIN THREE DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL MODELS AND EFFECTING FACTORS

Abstract

Objective: A cross-sectional comparative study was exposed within three Turkish public universities. This study aims to examine nursing students’ attitudes towards medical errors who are trained within three different education models and to determine factors that affect these attitudes. Methods: A personal and educational characteristics questionnaire and the Medical Error Attitude Scale were used. All students (n=1242) who agreed to participate in the research from the second, third and fourth grade nursing students of three universities were included to sample. Results: It was found that nursing students trained with the integrated education model and problembased learning model had higher scores on the Medical Error Attitude Scale than nursing students trained with classical education model. In the subscales of the Medical Error Attitude Scale, students trained in the integrated education model had a higher mean score in “perception” and “causes” subscales. A statistically significant difference was found in attitudes at different levels of training. Additionally, it was found that the mean scores of the second grade nursing students were higher in the medical error perception subscale. Conclusions: The findings of research emphasized that there is difference between medical error attitudes of nursing students who are educated by different education models. It can be suggested that in all models nursing education models, medical errors and patient safety trainings should be given effective and practical level. In this way, results may help to integrate to clinical practice.