ABSTRACT
The “problems” of the “problem” learner are not only those intrinsic to the learner, but also those extrinsic to the educator and the system. This paper focuses on patient safety education as an example of where these extrinsic problems are manifested. Patient safety management in the last two decades has been mainly a means to improve the system by analyzing failed incidents in a no-blame manner, but there is also an emphasis on balancing the accountability of the person involved, thus the importance of education is increasing. However, there are barriers to motivating individuals to learn from their failures. The “problem” in patient safety education may be overcome by assuring psychological safety, giving consideration to motivation based on self-determination theory, and using the Safety-II paradigm to change the viewpoint of failure.