Abstract: Objective To explore the effects of integrating patient safety education into the teaching of “fundamental nursing” course for the undergraduate nursing students in terms of knowledge, attitude and skills about patient safety. Methods Seventy five undergraduate nursing students from a top medical school in Sichuan were enrolled in this study. The concept of patient safety and its related information were integrated into the teaching of “fundamental nursing” course using lecturing, key safety elements analysis for different nursing skills, and the safety warning case study. The patient safety knowledge, attitudes, and skills questionnaire (APSQ) were administered before and after the course. Results The pre-course questionnaire scores in the dimensions of “medical errors related knowledge”, “what should I do when medical error occurred”, and “personal attitude of patient safety” were higher than the post-course Questionnaire scores(all P<0.01). Conclusions Integrating patient safety education to the teaching of “fundamental nursing”course can effectively improve undergraduate nursing students' patient safety knowledge, attitudes and skills with regard to certain dimensions, however, more studies are needed to further confirm the results.

Key words: Patient safety, Nursing education, Fundamental nursing, Undergraduate nurse students