The WHO patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools.

Merrilyn Walton; Helen Woodward; Samantha Van Staalduinen; C. Lemer; F. Greaves; D. Noble; B. Ellis; L. Donaldson; B. Barraclough; as Expert Lead for the Sub-Programme Expert Group convened by the World Alliance of Patient Safety

Commentary

The WHO patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools.

January 12, 2011

Walton M, Woodward H, Van Staalduinen S, et al. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010;19(6):542-6.

View more articles from the same authors.

This piece discusses why medical students need a universal patient safety curriculum and outlines such a program.

PubMed citation

Available at

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

When should students learn about ethics, professionalism and patient safety?

August 14, 2013

What have we learned about interventions to reduce medical errors?

February 10, 2010

Clinical supervisors: are they the key to making care safer?

June 12, 2013

Patient safety research: an overview of the global evidence.

March 17, 2010

Global priorities for patient safety research.

June 3, 2009

What has change management in industry got to do with improving patient safety?

January 30, 2005

Measures of patient safety in developing and emerging countries: a review of the literature.

March 17, 2010

An international review of patient safety measures in radiotherapy practice.

July 8, 2009

Case studies of patient safety research classics to build research capacity in low- and middle-income countries.

December 11, 2013

Do no harm: is it time to rethink the Hippocratic Oath?

February 5, 2014

Responding to safe care: healthcare staff experiences caring for a child with intellectual disability in hospital. Implications for practice and training.

May 11, 2022

In harm's way.

May 22, 2019

ACOG Committee Opinion #531: improving medication safety.

September 19, 2012

ACOG Committee Opinion #681: disclosure and discussion of adverse events.

January 30, 2005

The need for risk profiling in patient safety.

September 15, 2010

The quest to eliminate intrathecal vincristine errors: a 40-year journey.

March 31, 2010

Patient safety and quality of care in developing countries in Southeast Asia: a systematic literature review.

October 21, 2015

Workplace training for senior trainees: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of current approaches to promote patient safety.

September 16, 2015

Speaking up about safety concerns: multi-setting qualitative study of patients' views and experiences.

December 15, 2010

What do parents think about the quality and safety of care provided by hospitals to children and young people with an intellectual disability? A qualitative study using thematic analysis.

February 7, 2024

Reported clinical incidents of children with intellectual disability: a qualitative analysis.

June 15, 2022

Developing a national patient safety education framework for Australia.

January 3, 2007

Patient complaints about hospital services: applying a complaint taxonomy to analyse and respond to complaints.

June 8, 2016

ACOG Committee Opinion #621: patient safety and health information technology.

April 1, 2015

An observational study of direct oral anticoagulant awareness indicating inadequate recognition with potential for patient harm.

April 13, 2016

ACOG Committee Opinion #546: tracking and reminder systems.

December 12, 2012

ACOG Committee Opinion #590: preparing for clinical emergencies in obstetrics and gynecology.

April 30, 2014

Ottawa Hospital Patient Safety Study: incidence and timing of adverse events in patients admitted to a Canadian teaching hospital.

March 6, 2005

What do healthcare staff think about the quality and safety of care provided to children and young people with an intellectual disability? A qualitative study using the framework method of analysis.

September 6, 2023

Transforming healthcare: a safety imperative.

December 9, 2009

Power and conflict: the effect of a superior's interpersonal behaviour on trainees' ability to challenge authority during a simulated airway emergency.

December 2, 2015

ACOG Committee Opinion No. 447: patient safety in obstetrics and gynecology.

December 16, 2009

Quality and safety in surgical care.

April 5, 2006

The missing evidence: a systematic review of patients' experiences of adverse events in health care.

October 28, 2015

Patients' reports of adverse events: a data linkage study of Australian adults aged 45 years and over.

September 6, 2017

Characteristics of medication errors and adverse drug events in hospitals participating in the California Pediatric Patient Safety Initiative.

November 12, 2008

Medication errors in pediatric inpatients: prevalence and results of a prevention program.

September 17, 2008

Developing and implementing new safe practices: voluntary adoption through statewide collaboratives.

August 16, 2006

Impact and implementation of simulation-based training for safety.

January 8, 2014

Patient safety in healthcare preregistration educational curricula: multiple case study-based investigations of eight medicine, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy university courses.

June 19, 2013

Discrepant perceptions of communication, teamwork and situation awareness among surgical team members.

March 23, 2011

Differences in medication reconciliation interventions between six hospitals: a mixed method study.

June 29, 2022

Engaging with ethnic minority consumers to improve safety in cancer services: a national stakeholder analysis.

May 25, 2022

The safety of health care for ethnic minority patients: a systematic review.

July 29, 2020

Gender, power and leadership: the effect of a superior's gender on respiratory therapists' ability to challenge leadership during a life-threatening emergency.

December 13, 2017

Six year audit of cardiac arrests and medical emergency team calls in an Australian outer metropolitan teaching hospital.

December 19, 2007

Can we make postoperative patient handovers safer? A systematic review of the literature.

May 30, 2012

Effects of the introduction of the WHO "Surgical Safety Checklist" on in-hospital mortality: a cohort study.

January 30, 2005

Exploring error in team-based acute care scenarios: an observational study from the United Kingdom.

June 6, 2012

Understanding the behaviour of newly qualified doctors in acute care contexts.

November 2, 2011

In situ simulated cardiac arrest exercises to detect system vulnerabilities.

June 10, 2015

Disclosure, apology, and offer programs: stakeholders' views of barriers to and strategies for broad implementation.

January 9, 2013

Moving towards a Safety II approach.

August 7, 2019

Learning and sharing safety lessons to improve patient care.

February 8, 2006

An observational study of changes to long-term medication after admission to an intensive care unit.

December 6, 2006

Dedicated teams to optimize quality and safety of surgery: a systematic review.

November 16, 2022

The development and implementation of checklists in obstetrics.

September 27, 2017

Quality improvement priorities for safer out-of-hours palliative care: lessons from a mixed-methods analysis of a national incident-reporting database.

February 6, 2019

Do patient engagement interventions work for all patients? A systematic review and realist synthesis of interventions to enhance patient safety.

September 15, 2021

Principles of pediatric patient safety: reducing harm due to medical care.

June 15, 2011

July 27, 2016

Health Care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis: a useful proactive risk analysis in a pediatric oncology ward.

February 22, 2006

Using the internet to deliver education on drug safety.

November 15, 2006

Specialty-based, voluntary incident reporting in neonatal intensive care: description of 4846 incident reports.

June 10, 2009

Ambulatory patient safety. What we know and need to know.

March 6, 2005

Chronic kidney disease adversely influences patient safety.

September 24, 2008

Failure to administer recommended chemotherapy: acceptable variation or cancer care quality blind spot?

September 18, 2019

Detection of adverse events in surgical patients using the Trigger Tool approach.

August 27, 2008

Clinical decision support: a 25 year retrospective and a 25 year vision.

September 14, 2016

The second victim: a review.

June 28, 2017

Facilitated self-reported anaesthetic medication errors before and after implementation of a safety bundle and barcode-based safety system.

February 13, 2019

Surgical fires, a clear and present danger.

April 28, 2010

Peer support: healthcare professionals supporting each other after adverse medical events.

August 20, 2008

Incidence of adverse drug events and potential adverse drug events: implications for prevention.

March 27, 2005

Applicability of Healthcare Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to healthcare epidemiology: evaluation of the sterilization and use of surgical instruments.

September 21, 2005

Usability and feasibility of consumer-facing technology to reduce unsafe medication use by older adults.

May 22, 2019

Development, implementation, and dissemination of the I-PASS Handoff Curriculum: a multisite educational intervention to improve patient handoffs.

June 25, 2014

Patient safety in developing countries: retrospective estimation of scale and nature of harm to patients in hospital.

March 29, 2012

The effect of audible alarms on anaesthesiologists' response times to adverse events in a simulated anaesthesia environment: a randomised trial.

June 18, 2014

Adverse outcomes of blood transfusion in children: analysis of UK reports to the serious hazards of transfusion scheme 1996-2005.

June 25, 2008

Reporting of Clinical Adverse Events Scale: a measure of doctor and nurse attitudes to adverse event reporting.

October 22, 2008

Can preventable adverse events be predicted among hospitalized older patients? The development and validation of a predictive model.

September 10, 2014

Rapid response systems: identification and management of the "prearrest state."

February 1, 2012

Readiness for organisational change among general practice staff.

April 28, 2010

Changes in medical errors after implementation of a handoff program.

November 12, 2014

Rapid response teams seen through the eyes of the nurse.

August 4, 2010

Cluster randomized trial to evaluate the impact of team training on surgical outcomes.

October 5, 2016

A multidisciplinary teamwork training program: The Triad for Optimal Patient Safety (TOPS) experience.

October 15, 2008

Saving lives by studying deaths: using standardized mortality reviews to improve inpatient safety.

August 31, 2011

More to teamwork than knowledge, skill and attitude.

September 1, 2010

Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients: excess length of stay, extra costs, and attributable mortality.

March 27, 2005

Implementation of a protocol to reduce occurrence of retained sponges after vaginal delivery.

August 31, 2011

Exploring the causes of adverse events in hospitals and potential prevention strategies.

February 24, 2010

Development and reliability of the explicit professional oral communication observation tool to quantify the use of non-technical skills in healthcare.

July 10, 2013

How policy makers can smooth the way for communication-and-resolution programs.

January 29, 2014

When policy meets physiology: the challenge of reducing resident work hours.

June 28, 2006

Awareness with recall during general anaesthesia: a prospective observational evaluation of 4001 patients.

August 20, 2008

Effects of a team-based assessment and intervention on patient safety culture in general practice: an open randomised controlled trial.

January 8, 2014

A multihospital safety improvement effort and the dissemination of new knowledge.

March 6, 2005

Testing process errors and their harms and consequences reported from family medicine practices: a study of the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network.

June 11, 2008

Related Resources

Context matters: toward a multilevel perspective on context in clinical reasoning and error.

June 21, 2023

Explicitly addressing implicit bias on inpatient rounds: student and faculty reflections.

June 7, 2023

The time is now: addressing implicit bias in obstetrics and gynecology education.

May 17, 2023

Maximizing student potential: lessons for pharmacy programs from the patient safety movement.

May 17, 2023

Listen to the whispers before they become screams: addressing Black maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States.

May 3, 2023

Structural racism and impact on sickle cell disease: sickle cell lives matter.

January 11, 2023

The REPAIR Project: a prospectus for change toward racial justice in medical education and health sciences research: REPAIR project steering committee.

January 11, 2023

Exploring the intersection of structural racism and ageism in healthcare.

December 7, 2022

Why is patient safety a challenge? Insights from the Professionalism Opinions of Medical Students' research.

November 2, 2022

A qualitative survey of factors shaping the role of a safety professional.

October 19, 2022

Organisational failure: rethinking whistleblowing for tomorrow's doctors.

September 7, 2022

New graduate registered nurses: Risk mitigation strategies to ensure safety and successful transition to practice.

August 3, 2022

Narrowing the mindware gap in medicine.

July 20, 2022

From principles to practice: embedding clinical reasoning as a longitudinal curriculum theme in a medical school programme.

June 15, 2022

A call to action: next steps to advance diagnosis education in the health professions.

June 8, 2022

Developing critical thinking skills for delivering optimal care

July 28, 2021

Developing open disclosure strategies to medical error using simulation in final-year medical students: linking mindset and experiential learning to lifelong reflective practice.

March 31, 2021

Teamwork in the time of COVID-19.

March 3, 2021

The critical need for nursing education to address the diagnostic process.

February 17, 2021

Misdiagnosis, mistreatment, and harm - when medical care ignores social forces.

April 8, 2020

Responding to unprofessional behavior by trainees - a "just culture" framework.

March 11, 2020

Clinical reasoning as a core competency.

October 30, 2019

Assessing clinical reasoning: targeting the higher levels of the pyramid.

September 18, 2019

A lethal hidden curriculum—death of a medical student from opioid use disorder.

September 4, 2019

Addressing the elephant in the room: a shame resilience seminar for medical students.

August 28, 2019

Professionalism lapses and adverse childhood experiences: reflections from the island of last resort.

August 14, 2019

Teaching medical students to recognise and report errors.

July 10, 2019

Patient safety morning report: innovation in teaching core patient safety principles to third-year medical students.

July 10, 2019

Health Professions Education.

June 12, 2019

Reduced verification of medication alerts increases prescribing errors.

May 1, 2019

See More About The Topic

Quality and Safety Professionals

Educators

Students

The WHO patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools.

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The WHO patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools.

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site