Perspectives on developing moral courage in pre-licensure education: A qualitative study

•Errors are inevitable and occur at an alarming rate, and reporting errors should become a standard of practice.•There is a disconnect between organizational policies and individuals’ beliefs that requires training and education.•Psychological safety is not always achievable, making moral courage exceedingly crucial for patient safety.•Open dialogue about errors allows for process and quality improvement, fewer errors, and improved patient safety.•Future directions include longitudinal and mixed methods studies to determine the best educational interventions to decrease errors.