Comparing the Effects of Traditional Education and Root-Cause Analysis on Nursing Students' Attitudes About Safety Culture and Knowledge of Safe Medication Administration Practices An Experimental Study

Background: Root-cause analysis (RCA) has been used for decades to support a culture of safety in health care institutions. Although RCA has been recommended for inclusion in a nursing curriculum, little research has been conducted on educational strategies or outcomes. Purpose: The study aims were to compare differences in attitudes about safety culture and knowledge of safe medication administration after education about RCA (intervention) versus traditional safe medication administration education (control) and to provide psychometric data for the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) with nursing students. Methods: An experimental pretesfy/posttest study was conducted in 3 schools of nursing (N = 117). Results: Although there was no significant difference in outcomes between the control and intervention groups, increases in SAQ scores were observed for the intervention group. The Cronbach's alpha for the SAQ was .93. Conclusions: The SAQ is a reliable instrument for measuring safety culture in schools of nursing.