ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to describe how our college of nursing began to integrate patient safety instruction into simulation experiences for undergraduate nursing students. A system for evaluating and grading students was developed. Data on student safety behaviors were collected before and after implementation of instruction designed to improve adherence to hand washing and patient identification procedures. In the first semester in which data were collected, students did not demonstrate satisfactory performance of either hand hygiene or patient identification 61% of the time. After instruction, students still did not perform these procedures consistently 38% of the time. Lessons learned and future plans for addressing these problems with basic patient safety behaviors are discussed.
AUTHORS
Received: August 21, 2007
Accepted: November 24, 2008
Posted: September 25, 2009
Dr. Gantt is Assistant Professor and Executive Director, Learning Technologies and Labs, and Dr. Webb-Corbett is Associate Professor, East Carolina University College of Nursing, Greenville, North Carolina.
The authors acknowledge the vision and support of Dr. Phyllis Horns, Interim Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences; Mr. John Core, Assistant Dean for Administration and Finance at the College of Nursing; Dr. Sylvia Brown, Interim Dean of the College of Nursing; and Rita Coggins, Nurse Consultant, in the establishment of the new College of Nursing Concepts Integration Laboratories.
Address correspondence to Laura T. Gantt, PhD, RN, CEN, Assistant Professor and Executive Director, Learning Technologies and Labs, East Carolina University College of Nursing, 600 Moye Blvd, 2137 HSB, Greenville, NC 27858; e-mail: ganttl@ecu.edu.
doi:10.3928/01484834-20090918-10
