The Knowledge and Perceptions of Patient Safety and Patient Safety Culture During Dental Training: A Caribbean Perspective.

Introduction: Patient safety and the culture of keeping patients safe are not well-researched concepts in dentistry. Research is lacking on patient safety culture in dental teaching hospitals.

Objective: This study examined the knowledge and perceptions of patient safety and patient safety culture in a Caribbean dental school among clinical faculty, dental surgery assistants and recent graduates.

Method: A qualitative research design using an anonymous online open-ended questionnaire, which underwent face validity by three subject matter experts, was used to acquire data to answer three developed research questions. Qualitative data was uploaded to QDA Miner and a five-stage thematic analysis using emergent coding was used to develop themes to answer the research questions.

Results: Qualitative data was obtained from 28 respondents, 12 clinical faculty, 10 recent graduates, and 6 dental surgery assistants. Four participants graduated in 2020, 1 graduated in 2021, and 5 graduated in 2022. The ages of participants ranged from 23 to 74 years. Themes used to answer the research questions included: the application of a clinical knowledge-based framework for the understanding of patient safety, understanding the individual elements of patient safety culture, gatekeepers of patient safety, and understanding personal limitations.

Conclusion: Clinical and curriculum leaders at this dental school should consider the introduction of a patient safety curriculum given respondents understand patient safety from a clinical experiential perspective only and many respondents perceive patient safety culture as being guided predominantly by rules and policies with clinical faculty bearing the ultimate responsibility for keeping patients safe.