Mapping the HSE Quality Patient Safety Competency Navigator (2025) to a Level 9 Quality Patient Safety Module (Infection Control), to assess student knowledge, competence, and clinical practice skills. Abstract and poster

The new Quality Patient Safety Competency Navigator is a self-assessment tool to assist clinical staff in identifying and developing key competencies (knowledge, skills, behaviours) to provide quality and safe patient care in clinical settings. It describes six topics which can be further explored depending on staff role, and also serves as a sign-post to relevant educational resources and learning opportunities. The tool can be used by students right up to experienced clinical practitioners.
The Competency Navigator can be used as a tangible method of assessing student learning, and their Quality Patient Safety journey from novice to mastery, by completing the included ‘Competency Development Plan’. These can also be shared with line managers during performance review to determine future learning needs, and used as a discussion point at interviews to display quality patient safety knowledge.
Students completed a 500-word online assessment outlining their experiences while using the tool, demonstrating their skills in critical analysis and reflection. They also demonstrated stakeholder engagement by providing feedback to the HSE QPS team on their experiences while engaging with the Competency Navigator for the first time.
This assessment supports student engagement in the online learning space by providing them with tools to enhance their individual quality patient safety journeys, and assist them in identifying a baseline from which to develop their professional core competencies during the module, and throughout their own clinical careers. It also enhances how we as teachers improve teaching and learning and further integrate the four pillars of scholarship into the curriculum.