Patient Safety and Medical Errors in Nursing Education: Learning by Doing and Experiencing With Simulated Patients

NCT07471737 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: E.1361353225S429
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 62
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This research will be conducted with the aim of enabling first year nursing students to learn about patient safety and medical errors through simulated patient education. Students will participate in the theoretical and practical laboratory work of the Fundamentals of Nursing course during the spring semester of 2025-2026. The research will be implemented after the laboratory applications. This research will evaluate the impact of simulated patient education on the outcomes of first-year students' patient safety goals ('Correct identification of patients', 'Ensuring medication safety', 'Reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections' and 'Reducing the risk of patient harm from falls'). The researchers have developed six scenarios related to patient safety and medical errors. The research will be conducted in a randomised controlled experimental design (n=62). First-year nursing students will be administered the Patient Safety Competency Self-Evaluation Scale (pre-test), the Medical Error Tendency Scale (pre-test), and a knowledge test (pre-test). Students will be randomised into experimental and control groups based on their knowledge test (pre-test) mean scores. After all students in the experimental and control groups have completed the educator-centred theoretical and laboratory applications, the study will proceed to the application phase. First, those in the experimental group will participate in scenario applications (first and second scenarios) to gain experience with simulated patients. The first scenario covers applications related to the objectives of 'correct identification of patients' and 'ensuring medication safety'. The second scenario covers applications related to the objectives of 'reducing the risks associated with falls' and 'reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections'. One week after the simulation, the experimental group will undergo psychomotor skill assessment related to patient safety on a simulated patient, and the control group will undergo psychomotor skill assessment on a low-fidelity manikin using control ists (first skill assessment). Subsequently, all students will undergo the Patient Safety Competency Self-Evaluation Scale (post-test), the Medical Error Tendency Scale (post-test), and a knowledge test (post test). Six weeks later, psychomotor skill assessments (second skill assessment) using control lists, the Patient Safety Competency Self-Evaluation Scale (follow up-test), the Medical Error Tendency Scale (follow-up test), and the knowledge test (follow-up test) will be administered again using the same method. The third and fourth scenarios will be used in the first psychomotor skill assessment exam that the experimental and control groups will take. The third scenario includes skills related to the objectives of 'verifying patient identity' and 'ensuring medication safety'. The fourth scenario includes skills related to the objectives of 'reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections' and 'reducing the risks associated with falls'. The fifth and sixth scenarios will be used in the second psychomotor skills assessment exam for the experimental and control groups. The fifth scenario includes skills related to the objectives of 'verifying patient identity' and 'ensuring medication safety'. The sixth scenario includes skills related to the objectives of 'reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections' and 'reducing the risks associated with falls'.

Conditions

Simulation Training; Patient Safety; Medical Errors; Standardized Patient

Keywords

nursing education; simulated patient; patient safety; medical errors

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Patient Safety Competency Self-Evaluation Scale

  Scale was developed by Güneş et al. (2017) to determine students' self-assessments of their patient safety competence. The scale is a 5-point Likert scale and consists of three categories: knowledge (7 items), skills (1 item), and attitudes (10 items). A higher score on the scale indicates increased competence in patient safety. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient is 0.95.

  an average of eight weeks from baseline to study completion

• Medical Error Tendency Scale

  It was developed by Özata and Altunkan (2010). The scale is a 5-point Likert scale and consists of 49 items. The scale consists of five subscales: medication and transfusion practices (18 items), falls (5 items), hospital infections (12 items), communication (5 items), and patient monitoring and material safety (9 items). Each item can be rated as 'never', 'very rarely', 'most of the time', "usually", or 'always'. The maximum score that can be obtained from the scale is 245 and the minimum score is 49. It is stated that as the average score increases, the tendency to make medical errors is low. The Cronbach's alpha value of the scale is 0.93.

  an average of eight weeks from baseline to study completion

• Knowledge test

  A draft has been prepared by researchers in line with the literature (Baykara et al., 2021; Potter et al., 2021; Yazıcı and Yılmaz, 2019). It is appropriate for the content of patient safety and is suitable for assessing students' knowledge. It consists of 22 closed-ended questions, each with five options and a single correct answer. It will be submitted for expert review and undergo a pilot study. The total score achievable on the knowledge test ranges from 0 to 100.

  an average of eight weeks from baseline to study completion

• Control list

  It has been prepared by researchers and in line with the literature (Baykara et al., 2021; Berman et al., 2022). It consists of application steps that detail the psychomotor skill steps related to protecting patient safety. It has been created in the form of a graded scoring key to enable objective observation of students. It is categorised as 'Applied (2 points)', 'Incorrect/Incomplete (1 point)', and 'Not applied' (0 points). The total score that can be obtained from the checklist ranges from 0 to 100.

  one week and six weeks after the intervention

Study Arms (2)

simulated patient

EXPERIMENTAL

The simulated patient training will conduct to will be used in the experimental group. They will carry out two scenario applications related to patient safety and medical errors.

Other: simulated patient

traditional education (control group)

NO INTERVENTION

In the control group, educator-centered traditional laboratory practice will be carried out.

Interventions

simulated patient OTHER

The experimental group will perform the procedure on simulated patients. They will carry out two scenario-based applications related to patient safety and medical errors.

simulated patient

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• students who had enrolled in the Fundamentals of Nursing course for the first time
• had no more than 20% attendance
• volunteered to participate in the study

You may not qualify if:

• students who have previously performed a nursing practice on a simulated patient
• the student's unwillingness to continue the practices
• failure to complete the data collection forms.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Gazi University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Gazi University Faculty of Nursing

Ankara, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

Central Study Contacts

Evrim EYİKARA SARITAŞ

CONTACT

+905435061405; evrimeyikara@gmail.com

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant professor, Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 10, 2026
• First Posted: March 13, 2026
• Study Start: March 20, 2026
• Primary Completion: May 29, 2026
• Study Completion: May 29, 2026
• Last Updated: March 19, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TU (1)