Patients’ experiences of safety in a hospital learning department

Abstract

Abstract English Title: Patients’ experiences of safety in a hospital learning department Background: Learning departments are increasingly being set up to train students in realistic learning environments. In a hospital learning department, students under the supervision of a nurse are responsible for the entire patient care. It is unknown how patients' feelings of safety are during admissions in a hospital learning department. Aim: To explore the experiences of hospital-admitted patients regarding feeling safe in a learning department. Method: An general qualitative explorative study was conducted. Patients were purposefully sampled. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with patients admitted to a learning department in a University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Data was collected between February and April 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Four main themes emerged after interviewing patients (n=13): not being aware, have accountable nurses, feeling at ease by trust, and taking time to communicate. All patients indicated that they are feeling safe in a learning department. Conclusion: Patients felt safe being admitted in a learning department and experienced no differences in feeling safe between nurses and students. Recommendations: The results of this study are in line with other studies. Patients can feel safer on the department if they are informed in advance that they have been admitted to a learning department so they are aware of the presence of students.