The Perception of Patient Safety in Medical Students

AIM:This study aims to review medical faculty junior and senior students; perceptions of patient safety and medical errors and to provide awareness about these subjects. Medical faculty students for the first time, examine the patient after 3 or 4 years later beginning the faculty. METHODS This is a cross-sectional study and its population comprises of 4.,5. and 6. grade students of Gulhane Military Medical Faculty (GMMF). The study was conducted in GMMF between 1-30 April 2013. The Local Ethics Committee approved the study protocol. The total study population was tried to be reached..The exclusion criteria were denying participating and being unable to reach. RESULTS: Out of 248 4.5.and 6.grade students, 183 were reached .When the participants those or their relatives experienced malpractice and not experienced were compared regarding their answers on whether the physician who does malpractice should be punished or not, a statistically significant difference between the groups was revealed (p=0,017) CONCLUSION:It is seen that effects that increase the awareness such as more intense clinical studies, having knowledge about the subject, getting harmed from malpractice increase the perception of malpractice. Particularly the practices and studies of patient safety done in university hospitals have some benefits on the approach and point of views of medical school students, taking these benefits into account, we consider that taking active role in these studies for students and including patient safety classes into the medical school programs would be useful in increasing the awareness and in being more cautious against malpractice [TAF Prev Med Bull 2014; 13(4.000): 315-320