Analyzing Concept Mapping Integration Into a BSN Curriculum Using the H-PEPSS Survey

Background: This project’s foundational focus was on improving nursing students’ preparedness for their profession and patient care. Data supports that nursing graduates face challenges at the patient bedside, which often cause injury or harm. These deficits are known as preparation-to-practice, failure-to-rescue, and transition-to-practice gaps that occur despite the integration of preceptorship and residency programs. Through the integration of concept mapping into an established curriculum, an analysis of student patient safety perceptions in a pre- and postsurvey was completed. Method: This quality improvement project received approval from the institutional review board. The project was a quasi-experimental, nonrandomized, single-blinded design measuring first-semester student patient safety perception using a pre- and postsurvey. The data collection tool was the Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey, a 44-item Likert design. The student sample sizes included presurvey (N = 52) and postsurvey (N = 37) first-semester adult health students. An independent means t test analyzed the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 27. A p-value of < .05 determined data significance. Cohen’s d-independent sample effect size was 0.91. The independent t test of equality of means determined the data significance of 64 items. Results: Two hypothesis statements were focused on patient safety awareness improvements. Of the 64 data points, 53 survey items met data significance, while 11 items failed to meet data significance. The Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey tool represented the essential quality standards for improving the preparation-to-practice gaps noted in the literature. Conclusion: Overall, the items of nonsignificance revealed specific areas dedicated to improvements in a baccalaureate nursing education curriculum that directly impact safe patient care. These areas focus on communication, recognizing adverse events, and hand hygiene practices.