Just Culture, Medication Error Prevention, and Second Victim Support: A Better Prescription for Preparing Nursing Students for Practice is a white paper created by a team of academic professional nursing faculty in Georgia along with expert consultants, including ISMP. The white paper serves as a call to action to nursing programs to change the way they are preparing students for practice by:

Creating a Just Culture within the nursing program
Teaching nursing students about human fallibility and medication error prevention
Establishing a second victim response team within the nursing program

The competencies related to Just Culture, medication error prevention, and the second victim phenomenon overlap in significant ways and should be integrated seamlessly into the professional nursing curriculum, beginning with the first semester. While specific classes or courses may be developed to teach students the basic concepts associated with these critical competencies, they should not be taught in isolation. Although making medication errors, experiencing adverse events, witnessing or experiencing the second victim phenomena, and catching clear glimpses of the underlying culture of patient care are unpredictable, these topics should be included as part of the student’s clinical goals and captured spontaneously in teachable moments throughout the students’ educational experience.

Using the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) format, a set of new critical competencies for Just Culture, second victim support, and medication error prevention is provided in the white paper, as well as links to additional resources. Appendices also include tables that present the causes of medication errors and examples of student nurse-related medication errors.

Download the White Paper

^{How to Cite:}^{Jones J, Treiber L, Shabo R, et al. Just Culture, medication error prevention, and second victim support: a better prescription for preparing nursing students for practice [White paper]. Kennesaw, GA: WellStar School of Nursing, WellStar College of Health and Human Services, Kennesaw State University. 2021.}

ISMP gratefully acknowledges the practitioners who assisted in developing and editing this document.

The white paper was funded by the WellStar School of Nursing, WellStar College of Health and Human Services, Kennesaw State University, in Kennesaw, GA.