| Sumario: | • Psychological safety among health professions students was examined across nursing, medicine, and applied medical sciences disciplines. • Nursing students demonstrated significantly higher psychological safety than medical students, highlighting disciplinary differences in simulation culture. • Frequent exposure to simulation more than doubled the likelihood of perceiving a psychologically safe learning environment. • Findings emphasize the need for gender-sensitive facilitation, inclusive debriefing, and faculty development to foster safe and effective simulation learning. Simulation-based learning is an essential strategy in health professions education that allows learners to develop clinical competence in a controlled and supportive environment. Psychological safety—students' perceptions that they can express ideas, ask questions, and make mistakes without fear of embarrassment—is critical to maximizing learning outcomes. However, limited research has examined psychological safety across different health disciplines. This study aimed to assess the level of psychological safety among health professions students engaged in simulation-based learning and to explore factors influencing it, including gender, academic discipline, and frequency of simulation exposure. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 210 final-year students enrolled in the medicine, nursing, and applied medical sciences programs at a governmental university in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using the Psychological Safety in High-Fidelity Simulation Scale, adapted for multidisciplinary use. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS version 20, with significance set at p <.05. Most participants reported moderate to high psychological safety levels. Nursing students demonstrated higher psychological safety scores than medical students (p =.02), while female students scored lower than males (p =.03). Frequent exposure to simulation was significantly associated with increased psychological safety (OR = 2.3, p =.01). Psychological safety is a key component of effective simulation-based education. Enhancing faculty support, implementing structured debriefing, and ensuring frequent simulation opportunities can foster psychologically safe learning environments. Targeted strategies addressing gender and disciplinary disparities are essential to promote inclusive, high-quality learning experiences in health professions education.
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