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The study sought to validate the Italian version of the Health Professional Education in Patient Safety Survey (H-PEPSS), an instrument used to assess the perceptions of health professionals regarding patient safety competence. The H-PEPSS was administered to a sample of 574 bachelor degree nursing students in two north-eastern Italian universities. Its factor structure, validity and reliability were examined using explorative factor analysis. The internal consistency of the Italian version of H-PEPSS (H-PEPSSIta) measured with Cronbach's alpha (α) was higher for both classroom (.938) and clinical training (.942) dimensions. The six factors that emerged from the analysis were composed of three to five items loading ≥.55 and explaining 69.344% of the classroom total variance and 70.425% of the clinical training total variance of the H-PEPSSIta. The H-PEPSSIta is a valid tool capable of evaluating the self-perception of nursing students regarding patient safety knowledge and competence. Therefore, the instrument could be adopted in educational settings as a periodic nursing student report. This may help students reflect on PS related-issues, and evaluate gaps in knowledge and competences; furthermore, data emerging from periodic self-reports may offer the opportunity to tailor educational strategies to fill the gaps in PS knowledge and competences that emerge., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)