Teaching patient safety in the COVID-19 pandemic: perception of nursing students

Objective  To apprehend the perception of technical and undergraduate nursing students about the teaching of patient safety competencies in the pandemic of COVID-19.

Method  Qualitative study, conducted in 2021, with technical and undergraduate nursing students from Paraná, through individual interviews. The content analysis technique was used.

Results  The following categories emerged: Understanding of the concept of patient safety enhanced by clinical practice; Attitudes and feelings towards near miss, adverse events and unsafe practice and; Negative reflexes of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient safety teaching.

Conclusion and implications for practice  The teaching of patient safety competencies was perceived by students with negative feelings due to the experience of near misses, adverse events and unsafe practices. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, they reported fragmentation in the teaching of the subject under study, distance from practice and, consequently, academic and professional insecurity. Further discussion of the teaching of patient safety competencies during the pandemic is indispensable to the quality of training and professional performance.

Keywords:
Cultural Competency; COVID-19; Nursing; Teaching; Patient safety