​Last year, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa participated in mapping of the safety competencies to their undergraduate curriculum. Dr. Amy Nakajima, a clinician-teacher and Zoe Lazaris-Brunner, a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, are now revisiting the mapping in a different way, from the perspective of the recipient of the intended curriculum, the medical student.

The idea to undertake this second mapping project originated from feedback received from third year medical students attending a patient lecture given by Dr. Nakajima; the students indicated that they felt that patient safety teaching is important and their curriculum should include more patient safety content. Furthermore, the students' feedback inspired the submission of a proposal for a pre-clerkship and a clerkship patient safety and quality improvement electives, which were then established in January 2015 and are now available to medical students. These flexible electives allow students to further develop their interests in a chosen clinical area.

This year's re-mapping exercise will compare the stated objectives of the undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Ottawa, through the lens of patient safety, to the students' perceptions of the teaching they received.

"In particular, we are looking at components of the formal curriculum that are mandatory and lectures that students must attend," says Dr. Amy Nakajima. "At the end of this re-mapping exercise, we will generate some suggestions on how we can incorporate additional patient safety and quality improvement content into our undergraduate curricula."

The Canadian Patient Safety Institute Safety Competencies provide an interprofessional, practical and useful patient safety framework that identifies the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by all health care professionals. For more information, visit www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca