Perceptions of human factors and patient safety in undergraduate healthcare education: A multidisciplinary perspective

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BACKGROUND: Adoption of Human Factors (HF) principles to healthcare can help to jointly optimise work systems performance and human wellbeing. A recent systematic review identified a lack of formal patient safety (PS) and HF education in undergraduate healthcare curricula. To address this gap, qualitative research is needed to explore faculty and student perspectives, offering a deeper understanding of current educational practices and potential areas for development. AIM: To gain an understanding of faculty and student perceptions relating to PS and HF education in undergraduate medical and pharmacy programmes at an Irish university. METHODS: Sampling was purposive and included faculty and undergraduate senior cycle students from the disciplines of medicine and pharmacy. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty and five uni-professional focus groups were conducted with students. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five overarching themes were identified: DISCUSSION: Participants considered HF to be important for PS education but there was a lack of shared understanding around its meaning. There was a lack of robust competency frameworks underpinning existing PS/HF content. Findings indicate that much PS learning was implicit and occurring while students are on clinical placement. A perceived disconnect between the academic and clinical environments was a recurring theme. CONCLUSION: This study identifies faculty and student perceptions of gaps relating to HF/PS teaching in undergraduate medicine and pharmacy education in an Irish context. Increased synergy between the academic and clinical environments may help optimise PS/HF learning.