Patient safety has become a national topic since a 1999 Institute of Medicine report estimated that medical errors kill almost 100,000 people per year. Follow-up surveys of medical schools found that young doctors in training did not feel they received enough in-depth education in patient safety. In response to this issue, the WHO (World Health Organization) developed a patient safety curriculum to be taught in medical schools. The UCF College of Medicine was invited to become a pilot site for evaluation of the patient safety curriculum along with 10 medical schools in countries across the world.

Director:

  • Stephen Knych, M.D.

Learning objectives:

  • Students are aware of the magnitude of patient harm in the health care delivery system.
  • Students can identify types of errors in case review/low fidelity simulations and apply strategies to mitigate or prevent harm.
  • When presented with complex patient care scenarios, use system design principles to identify and design highly reliable processes that mitigate error leading to patient harm.
  • Applies principles of team-based behavior to improve patient safety.
  • When presented with patient care scenarios involving the interface of humans in complex systems, apply the knowledge of human factors to mitigate patient harm.