Evaluating the Impact of a Healthcare Quality Course on Nursing Students' Knowledge: A Pre-Post Intervention Study from Jordan

Background: The evolving demands of modern healthcare necessitate that nursing education extend beyond clinical skills to include systems-based practices such as healthcare quality improvement, accreditation, and patient safety. While healthcare quality courses are increasingly integrated into nursing curricula globally, their effectiveness in improving student knowledge—particularly in low- and middle-income settings like Jordan—remains understudied. Objectives: To assess improvements in knowledge of healthcare quality, accreditation, and patient safety among nursing students at Jerash University, Jordan, following a 14-week course. Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design was employed. After obtaining the ethical permission, a 30-item multiple-choice exam (10 items per domain: healthcare quality improvement, accreditation, and patient safety) and 10 demographic items were administered online via Google Forms as a pretest (5–12 March 2023) and post-test (22–29 June 2023) to 53 nursing bachelor students enrolled in an elective course, primarily targeting final-year students but open to students from other years. Results: Paired t-tests revealed significant improvements in mean scores from pretest to post-test across all domains: healthcare quality (4.08-6.67, p<0.001), accreditation (3.36-6.26, p<0.001), and patient safety (3.67 to 6.83, p<0.001). Conclusions: The course's effectiveness in enhancing students' knowledge offers evidence-based insights for curriculum development and ensuring nursing graduates are well-prepared for contemporary healthcare challenges.