Adverse health care events are a global public health issue despite major efforts, and they have been acknowledged as a complex concern. The aim of this study was to explore the construction of unsafe care using accounts of adverse events concerning the patient, as reported by patients, relatives, and health care professionals. Twenty-nine adverse events reported in an acute care setting in a Swedish university hospital were analyzed through discourse analysis, where the construction of what was considered to be real and true in the descriptions of unsafe care was analyzed. In the written reports about unsafe events, the patient was spoken of in three different ways: (a) the patient as a presentation of physical signs, (b) the patient as suffering and vulnerable, and (c) the patient as unpredictable. When the patient\'s voice was subordinate to physical signs, this was described as being something that conflicted with patient safety. The conclusion was that the patient\'s voice might be the only sign available in the early stages of adverse events. Therefore, it is crucial for health care professionals to give importance to the patient\'s voice to prevent patients from harm and not unilaterally act only upon abnormal physical signs.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical placement is a fundamental aspect of student learning and skill development across healthcare disciplines. However, participation in clinical placements can also present significant risk to students. This systematic literature review sought to examine the range of risks and hazards encountered by students across healthcare disciplines during their clinical placements.
METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis reporting guidelines were utilised in conducting this exploratory systematic review.
METHODS: The CINAHL Complete, Medline Complete, and PsycINFO databases were searched. Reference lists of eligible records obtained via database searching were screened, and a supplementary key author search was conducted. Research published between 2013 and 2018 and conducted in the context of comparative international healthcare systems was the focus of this study.
METHODS: Study titles and abstracts were screened, and the full text of potentially relevant records was perused. Records meeting key eligibility criteria by addressing risk posed to students in healthcare disciplines within a clinical placement context were included in the final synthesis.
RESULTS: The search identified 46 eligible records. The literature highlighted the worrying trend that students, most notably in the nursing discipline, can be exposed to a wide range of risks and adverse health events during clinical placement.
CONCLUSIONS: As risks in unpredictable clinical environments cannot be eradicated, this review demonstrated a critical need for educative action to enable students to competently and confidently manage risks, and to reduce occurrence of adverse health events.