Integration of patient safety in Spanish Universities – Professors’ and Deans’ opinions

Background Education in Patient Safety (PS) is essential. The WHO’s PS Curriculum Guide serves as a framework for medical education. This study explores faculty members’ opinions on integrating PS into undergraduate programs. Methods A cross-sectional survey study assessed faculty and deans’ perceptions regarding the integration of the 11 WHO-recommended PS topics, barriers to implementation, and suggestions for improvement. Results Invitations were sent to 80 faculty members from 49 medical schools; 29 (36%) responded. Of them, 46% believed fewer than 60% of topics were included, while 21% indicated 81%-100% integration. The least integrated topics were patient and caregiver involvement (46%), understanding system failures and learning from errors (29%), and teamwork (26%). The most integrated were quality improvement (85%) and minimizing healthcare-associated infections (82%). The main barriers were lack of curriculum time (74%) and faculty resistance to change (37%). Regarding teaching methods, 41% preferred a mix of theoretical and practical classes within a dedicated PS course and other subjects, including clinical rotations. Conclusions Just over half of the faculty members surveyed perceived that most WHO-recommended topics were included in their curricula, although only one in five perceived near-complete integration. This perception exceeds the integration documented in previous reviews of official syllabi; the barriers most frequently reported by respondents were limited curriculum time, resistance to change and a weak safety culture.