Developing a consensus patient safety curriculum for junior doctors in Taiwan: a modified Delphi protocol

Introduction

While international frameworks guide patient safety education, their impact depends on local training structures and sociocultural context. In Taiwan, patient safety training has not yet been consolidated into a coherent curriculum, and hierarchical, blame-oriented norms may discourage incident reporting and learning. The aim of this research programme includes establishing expert consensus on the core content for a Taiwan-contextualised patient safety curriculum for junior doctors through an adapted Delphi study.

Methods and analysis

This protocol outlines an online modified Delphi study with three phases: (1) document analysis of international frameworks to draft curriculum statements; (2) patient and public involvement and engagement to refine statement relevance and clarity; and (3) a multiround Delphi survey. Phases I and II were completed as preparatory phases to develop the Delphi questionnaire for use in Phase III. Phase III is underway, and we are inviting 80–100 multidisciplinary experts in Taiwan, anticipating 11–30 respondents in the final round. Expert panellists are rating statements with free-text comments. Between rounds, controlled feedback will provide summary statistics and analysis of free-text comments to inform subsequent ratings. Consensus was prespecified as median ≥4 and IQR ≤1, supported by ≥70% of respondents rating 4–5. If a consensus is not reached, a further round will be conducted. Free-text data will be analysed qualitatively to support interpretation and implementation considerations.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethics approvals for the consensus survey were obtained in the UK and Taiwan. Outputs will include endorsed curriculum content and implementation insights to guide future curriculum development. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conferences.