Theoretical-practical acquisition of topics relevant to patient safety: dilemmas in the training of nurses

Abstract Objective: To investigate content associated with patient safety included in the curricula of undergraduate nursing courses of two Brazilian higher educational institutions. Method: A descriptive survey study was carried out with 119 students of nursing courses (licentiate and bachelor degree), from August to September 2016. The topics investigated were based on the WHO patient safety curriculum guide: multi-professional edition. Armed with the data, univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out. Results: Of the 46 content areas investigated in the questionnaire, two scored high in non-achievement in theoretical or practical activities, namely "the culture of blame" and "community-acquired infection." Licentiate and bachelor degree students reported a higher acquisition in theoretical classes (p = 0.012), whereas bachelor degree students reported similar acquisition in theory and practice (p = 0.013). Conclusion: The content mostly included theoretical and practical approaches at least once throughout the course. However, when considering content associated with patient safety-related sociocultural aspects, lower scores were found