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Summary Background Ensuring safety in health-care settings is provoking improvements both in education and clinical practice. However, the studies available have not offered to date information regarding knowledge and competence on patient safety (PS) developed by nursing students over their academic career. There is no documentation of the amount of close calls and/or adverse events that students may have witnessed and the degree of safety perceived in the attended clinical settings. Objectives To describe the perception of nursing students regarding their own knowledge and competence on PS and describe differences, if any, among students attending the first, second and third academic year. Design A cross-sectional study design was undertaken in 2013. Participants and Setting A convenience sample of 621 nursing students of two bachelors nursing degrees located in two Italian universities, was the population target of the study. Students attending the first, second and third academic year, obtaining admission to the annual clinical competence examination, were eligible. Methods The Italian version of the Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey (H-PEPSS Ita ) and open-ended questions was administered to the students after having obtained their informed written consent. Results A total of 573 students (response rate 92.4%) participated. Around a quarter (28.8%) of students reported having experienced an adverse event or close call during their clinical experience. The settings where they learn were perceived as unsafe by 46.9% of students. PS knowledge and competence as perceived by students, was high (Median = 4) in all factors and dimensions of the H-PEPSS Ita tool. High PS knowledge and competence was reported by first-year students, moderate by second-year students and higher at the end of the third-year. Conclusions Faculties and health-care institutions offering clinical placements have to share the responsibility of well-prepared future nurses, working together to improve PS through dialogue when issues are identified by students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) is considered the most valid and reliable method for assessing the clinical skills of students training for health professions, but its use is limited by the related high costs. We analyzed the cost retrospectively of using an OSCE designed for second-year students (2009) in our degree course, adopting the Reznick et al. guidelines (1993), which recommend assessing both high-end costs and low-end costs. The high-end costs adopting the OSCE amounted to €145.23 per student, while the low-end costs were €31.51 per student. Considering the economic crisis and the cost-containment measures applied also in nursing education, strategies for further reducing costs are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Potential nursing students and their families are faced with difficult decisions regarding the amount of time and money required to complete the nursing programme and the availability of funds to cover the costs and this seems to have received little no attention to date. With the aim of describing the costs incurred by Italian nursing students and/or their families per academic year and compare cost trends incurred from 2004–05 to 2010–11, a multi-centre qualitative/quantitative study design was adopted. Italian Nursing students attending the first, second and third academic years in 2004–05 and those attending the first, second and third academic years in 2010–11 were eligible. Five hundred and six students were involved: 215 (out of 300 eligible, 71.6%) attended the bachelor''s degree in nursing in 2004–05 and 291 (out of 383 eligible, 75.9%) in 2010–11. On an annual basis, the average annual expenditures increased by 12% for nursing education from 2004–05 to 2010–11. Given that qualification as a nurse requires at least three years, and considering inflation, for a student who matriculated in 2005 an average of 2485.7€ per year (7457.0€ in total) was required. Data suggest that students have modified their spending behaviour (limiting lunches at public bars, buying books and photocopies) in order to handle the rise of non-discretionary costs, such as tuition fees and the costs of attending lectures and hospital/district trainings. Policies supporting nursing education in general and for those students who are motivated but unable to undertake the course for economic reasons are urgently needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]