F
or surgical facility leaders, safety is every-
thing. You meet rigorous quality and care
standards, practice evidence-based medi-
cine, use cutting-edge technology and adhere to
meticulous, comprehensive checklists to ensure
patients who walk through your doors leave with-
out incident, injury or complication. Of course, pro-
tecting patients is only one part of the equation. You
must also take care of your staff so they're available
to care for patients. Otherwise, you're ultimately
compromising the safety of both staff and their
patients. "Workload intensity, working conditions,
disruptive behavior and increased stress caused by
burnout all contribute to unsafe working conditions
and errors," says Michael Kost, DNP, CRNA, CHSE,
FAAN, director of healthcare simulation at Einstein
Healthcare Network in Philadelphia.
Organizations that embody a true culture of safe-
ty encourage everyone to speak up if they have a
concern. "Leadership must embrace an environ-
ment of open and honest communication, so staff
don't fear repercussions for reporting an event,"
says Barbara Pelletreau, RN, MPH, senior vice pres-
ident of patient safety at CommonSpirit Health in
San Francisco. "All safety-first organizations adhere
to rigorous protocols and safeguards because it's
the right thing to do."
Encouraging staff to sound the alarm at the first
sign that something's amiss is what all safety-cen-
tered organizations have in common. "We want our
frontline team members to be very comfortable
raising concerns to leadership," says Lisa Clark
Pickett, MD, FACS, chief medical officer at Duke
University Hospital in Durham, N.C. "We don't want
staff who speak up to be seen as troublemakers —
we want to thank them for raising a concern so we
can address it."
Once a concern has been raised, the real work
begins. "Facilities need a mechanism to solve safety
problems, not just put a Band-Aid on the problem,"
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Safe Spaces
Prioritizing the well-being of staff and patients is an evolving process.
On Point
Jared Bilski | Managing Editor
EVERY VOICE COUNTS To embody a true culture of safety, you must encourage everyone to speak up if they have a safety concern.
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