The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the patient safety attitude of medical students

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the differences in scores of the Attitude to Patient Safety Questionnaire (APSQ) by medical students before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. METHODS: In total, 97 and 118 medical students completed patient safety courses at Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In 2019, the course was conducted using traditional learning in the classroom, whereas, in 2020, most of the classes were conducted using non-face-to-face learning methods. RESULTS: In 2019 and 2020, 49 and 53 students responded to the APSQ. Only one item “Patients are not really aware of how safe their care is” had a lower score in 2020 than in 2019. CONCLUSION: Although the total APSQ score did not differ between 2019 and 2020, the students in 2020 might have a poor understanding of the role of patients in medical errors.