Adverse events witnessed by nursing students during clinical learning experiences: Findings from a longitudinal study

No evidence from any longitudinal study design has been reported to date with regard to patientsafety (PS) incidents witnessed by nursing students during their training. Therefore, with the aimof closing this gap in available knowledge, a longitudinal study was performed from 2012 to2015 by involving all nursing students (n = 145) enrolled in two Italian nursing programs. At theend of each academic year, students were invited to report in writing all PS incidents witnessedduring their clinical learning experience; the number of days each student spent in their clinicalsetting was also collected from administrative records. Ninety students were included and94 incidents were reported: 17 (18.1%) by first year students, 27 (28.7%) by second year students,and 50 (53.2%) by third year students. One third of students did not report any PS incidentat the end of each academic year, while only a few reported more than one. The incidencedensity was 3.8/1000 days of clinical training without statistical differences across academicyears. Supporting nursing students by encouraging them to share, discuss, and reflect on theirclinical learning experience might increase their confidence in reporting safety incidents.