Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Psychological safety'.
Found 193 results
-
Content ArticleImagine a diverse workplace in which all employees felt a genuine sense of inclusion and belonging. It’s unlikely you work in such an organisation today. But it’s clear that every organisation, public and private sector alike, is increasingly aware of the need to get to work on making this a reality. This article, written by Amy Edmondson and published in Psychology Today, recognises that a diverse workforce and psychological safety go hand in hand for a safer workplace.
-
Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic is emerging as the defining health crisis of our generation. Healthcare organisations were already a high-risk environment for workers, who are exposed on a daily basis to the suffering of their patients, tragedy, and the potential for failure. Now, healthcare staff of all kinds are straining to meet the demands of caring for patients with the novel coronavirus. Caring for patients with COVID-19 places them at personal risk for infection, and also poses a threat to their emotional well-being. If workers are not provided with sufficient emotional support, the distress can be disabling. It may render them less able to work to their full ability. This in turn can threaten the integrity of the health care workforce to deliver the volumes of care required by the pandemic. In the longer term individual workers are at risk for accelerated burnout, and for mental health problems like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management asked their international editorial board to provide advice for healthcare leaders and managers and frontline clinicians for meeting the emotional needs of healthcare workers and supporting one another. They identified several priority areas central to maintaining and promoting the well-being of the workforce during the pandemic. These included meeting basic needs, improving crisis leadership and communication, promoting well-being, and providing mental and emotional support.
-
Content ArticleClaire Cox, Patient Safety Learning's Associate Director of Patient Safety, chats to Harriet Baker, a matron on secondment at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, about the Schwartz Rounds model and the positive impact it can have on staff well-being. Harriet explains how to get the ball rolling if you would like to implement Schwartz Rounds locally.
-
Content Article
The right – and duty – of NHS staff to speak up
Hugh Wilkins posted an article in Whistle blowing
A blog from hub topic lead Hugh Wilkins on the recent messages from NHS England and NHS Improvement leaders reminding everyone, including those at board level, of the duty and right of staff to speak up about anything which gets in the way of patient care and their own wellbeing. Hugh highlights the real risk of reprisals against some staff who have raised concerns in the public interest, and points out that much needs to change before NHS staff can be sure that it is safe for them to speak up.- Posted
- 1 comment
-
- (and 9 more)
-
News ArticleAn independent investigation into working conditions at a unit of the NHS’s blood and organ transplant service has concluded that it is “systemically racist” and “psychologically unsafe.” The internal investigation was commissioned in response to numerous complaints from ethnic minority staff working in a unit of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in Colindale, north London. The report, carried out by the workplace relations company Globis Mediation Group, concluded that the environment was “toxic” and “dysfunctional.” The report found evidence that ethnic minority employees had faced discrimination when applying for jobs and that white candidates had been selected for posts ahead of black applicants who were better qualified. “Recruitment is haphazard, based on race and class and whether a person’s ‘face fits,’” it said. “Being ignored, being viewed as ineligible for promotion and enduring low levels of empathy all seem to be normal,” the report noted. “These behaviours have created an environment which is now psychologically unsafe and systemically racist.” Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, commented, “This report highlights all too painfully the racial prejudices and discrimination we are seeing across healthcare. We must renew efforts to challenge these behaviours and bring an end to the enduring injustices faced by black people and BAME healthcare workers here in the UK.” Read story Source: BMJ, 10 June 2020
-
Content ArticleIf psychological safety is the number one variable in team performance then how do you improve it? Where do you start? What are the key actions you can take to increase the level of psychological safety in your environment? This guide from Leader Factor has 120+ behaviours you can use to have a higher level of psychological safety. You can download the guide by filling in the online form.
-
Content ArticleThis is a guide from the British Psychological Society, for leaders and managers of healthcare services who will need to consider the wellbeing needs of all healthcare staff (clinical and non-clinical) as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. It offers practical recommendations for how to respond at individual, management and organisational level involving the appropriate utilisation of expertise within their practitioner psychologist and mental health professionals and anticipates the psychological reactions over time, and what people may need to recovery psychologically from this.
-
Content ArticleDrawing on research, best practice guidelines and expert clinical opinions, the COVID Trauma Response Working Group has created rapid guidance for planners putting in place psychological support for staff in the early stages of dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. The King's Fund has developed this graphic as a quick reference version of the detailed guidance available on the traumagroup.org website.
-
News Article
Mental health hotline for NHS staff
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS is launching a hotline to support and advise healthcare staff during the coronavirus pandemic. Volunteers from charities including Hospice UK, the Samaritans and Shout, will listen to concerns and offer psychological support. The phone line will be open between 07:00 and 23:00 every day, while the text service will be available around the clock. The phone number is 0300 131 7000 or staff can text FRONTLINE to 85258. It comes as staff face increasing pressure to care for rising numbers of patients who are seriously ill with the virus. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2020 -
Content Article
Looking after each other in times of change
Sally Howard posted an article in Blogs
In her latest blog, Sally Howard, talks about our changing world, why transitions are so difficult and what we can do to look after each other along the way.- Posted
- 2 comments
-
- (and 3 more)
-
Content ArticleThe findings of this study suggest that, among Chinese healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19, women, nurses, those in Wuhan, and front-line health care workers have a high risk of developing unfavourable mental health outcomes and may need psychological support or interventions.
-
Content ArticleIn this paper published in JAMA Network Open, Lai et al., looked at what factors are associated with mental health outcomes among healthcare workers in China who are treating patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this cross-sectional study of 1257 healthcare workers in 34 hospitals equipped with fever clinics or wards for patients with COVID-19 in multiple regions of China, a considerable proportion of them reported experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia and distress. These findings suggest that, among Chinese healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19, women, nurses, those in Wuhan, and front-line health care workers have a high risk of developing unfavourable mental health outcomes and may need psychological support or interventions.
-
News Article
Inside an ICU: how long can we stay calm in the face of the coronavirus crisis?
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Matt Morgan, an intensive care doctor, describes in this Guardian article how his ICU are preparing for the coronavirus crisis. "ICUs are as prepared as they can be. Locally business as usual has made way for preparations for caring for high numbers of patients. We are finding every ventilator we may have and identifying every suitably qualified member of staff. We will work together to fill gaps as best we can. There’s a sense of anticipation about what the next eight, 10, 12 weeks are going to bring in terms of work. Anyone who works in healthcare is also a mum, dad, daughter, brother, son. We want to give everything to saving lives and work and care, but equally we’re thinking about the logistics of personal lives and elderly relatives too." Matt says his worst nightmare is having insufficient workforce and equipment to meet patient needs. Whether or not that will come to fruition is tough to predict. He also says that his ICU has a psychologist who’s doing a huge amount of thinking about putting in place wellbeing resources for staff who might be in moral distress after having to prioritise one patient over another. "If there are 500 patients and only 200 ventilators then that’s when we need national guidance from the government and other bodies. It can’t be up to individual doctors. The age of playing God is long behind us. The question is who should we be making decisions with: the public, government or within the profession?" Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 March 2020 -
Content ArticleStrengthening a safety culture necessitates interventions that simultaneously enable, enact and elaborate in a way that is attuned to the existing culture. Through a literature review of more than 60 resources, a Patient Safety Culture Bundle has been created and validated through interviews with Canadian thought leaders. The Bundle is based on a set of evidence-based practices that must all be applied in order to deliver good care. All components are required to improve the patient safety culture. The Patient Safety Culture "Bundle" for CEOs and Senior Leaders encompasses key concepts of safety science, implementation science, just culture, psychological safety, staff safety/health, patient and family engagement, disruptive behavior, high reliability/resilience, patient safety measurement, frontline leadership, physician leadership, staff engagement, teamwork/communication, and industry-wide standardisation/alignment.
-
Content ArticleAuthor Hugh MacLeod host's this fourth episode in the ISQua Podcast series. "We do not make stuff in healthcare, we deliver care to people through people. When the relationship patterns between people are connected and healthy quality and patient safety magic happens, when they are not connected nor healthy, things fall through the cracks and patient harm and death occurs."
-
Content ArticleAs we look to the future, the healthcare industry is at a critical juncture. The rapid development of theories on how to deliver safe, person-centred care means that we can no longer rely on the excuse that “healthcare is different” from other industries and cannot be reliable and safe. People are now demanding safety and reliability in the care they receive, and they want to be treated as people who happen to be ill rather than as a number or a disease. Currently, it is by chance rather than by design that one receives highly reliable person-centred and safe care. Yet we continue to build the same type of hospitals, educate future nurses and clinicians as we have always done and operate in a hierarchical system that disempowers people, rather than enables people to be healthy. Although the provision of healthcare is complex, it is possible to overcome the complexity and provide care that is of the highest standard in all the domains of quality. To achieve this, Peter Lachman in his blog suggests six steps to be considered.
-
News ArticleEvery week for nearly a year, Lorraine Shilcock attended an hour-long counselling session paid for by the NHS. She needed the therapy, which ended in November, to cope with the terrifying nightmares that would wake her five or six times a night, and the haunting daytime flashbacks. Lorraine, 67, a retired textile worker from Desford, Leicester, has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Her psychological scars due to a routine NHS medical check, which was supposed to help her, not leave her suffering. In October 2018, Lorraine had a hysteroscopy, a common procedure to inspect the womb in women who have heavy or abnormal bleeding. The 30-minute procedure, performed in an outpatient clinic, is considered so routine that many women are told it will be no worse than a smear test and that, if they are worried about the pain, they can take a couple of paracetamol or ibuprofen immediately beforehand. Yet for Lorraine, and potentially thousands more women in the UK, that could not be further from the truth. Many who have had a hysteroscopy say the pain was the worst they have ever experienced, ahead of childbirth, broken bones, or even a ruptured appendix, commonly regarded as the most agonising medical emergency. Yet most had no warning it would be so traumatic, leaving some, like Lorraine, with long-term consequences. But, crucially, it is entirely avoidable. Do you have an experience you would like to share? Join our conversation on the hub on painful hysteroscopy. We are using this feedback and evidence to help campaign for safer, harm-free care. Read full story Source: Mail Online, 3 March 2020
-
News Article
‘Shameful’ data reveals NHS treatment of minority ethnic staff
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Five years after launching a plan to improve treatment of black and minority ethnic staff, NHS England data shows their experiences have got worse. Almost a third of black and minority ethnic staff in the health service have been bullied, harassed or abused by their own colleagues in the past year, according to “shameful” new data. Minority ethnic staff in the NHS have reported a worsening experience as employees across four key areas, in a blow to bosses at NHS England, five years after they launched a drive to improve race equality. Critics warned the experiences reported by BME staff raised questions over whether the health service was “institutionally racist” as experts criticised the NHS “tick box” approach and “showy but pointless interventions”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 February 2020 -
Content ArticleThe PRAISe project tests the hypothesis that, together, positive reporting and appreciative inquiry can be used as an intervention to facilitate behavioural change and improvement in the related areas of sepsis management and antimicrobial stewardship.
-
Content Article
Bitter pill – A paramedic's tale
Anonymous posted an article in Florence in the Machine
What impact does working on the frontline in healthcare have on your own mental health? How do you cope with the daily traumatic events you see at work and then go home and care for your family? What happens when you start to feel out of control? In this blog, a paramedic recounts their feelings and fear when things started to get out of control at work and at home, describing the symptoms of 'moral injury', and how talking openly to colleagues, their line-manager and to a counsellor helped them to recover. -
News Article
Pregnant women must be respected by medics, says regulator
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Mothers-to-be must be respected and listened to by medics, regulators have said, after warnings that pleas for pain relief in labour have been ignored. The intervention by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) follows an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph. Last week it was revealed that six NHS trusts were in breach of medical guidance which says pain relief should be provided at any point of labour if it is requested. Women said they were told “‘It’s not called labour for nothing, it’s meant to be hard work” as doctors refused their pleas. The findings prompted the Health Secretary to order an investigation. Today Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive of the NMC, which regulates nurses and midwives said such actions should not be tolerated. In a letter to The Telegraph she said: "As the regulator for nursing and midwifery professionals, we know that all women deserve to have their views, preferences and decisions respected during pregnancy and birth." The watchdog recently published updated standards for midwives, which she said underlined this point. "Enabling women to make safe, informed decisions about the care they receive, including choices about pain relief during birth, is at the heart of our new Future Midwife Standards," the Chief Executive continued. Ms Sutcliffe said midwives should work "in partnership" with women in labour. "While midwives don’t administer epidurals, they do play a key role in helping women to make informed choices and advocating on their behalf to make sure those choices are understood and respected by the wider care team," she said. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 2 February 2020 -
Content ArticleSidney Dekker says when there has been an incident of harm, we need to know "who is hurt, what do they need, and whose obligation is it to meet that need?" In this blog, commissioned by Patient Safety Learning, Joanne Hughes, hub topic lead, develops our understanding of the needs of patients, families and staff when things go wrong. Using Joanne's expertise and informed by her personal experience and engagement with many others who have suffered second harm, this blog discusses the care needs for harmed patients, their families and for staff when things go wrong. It aims to highlight the chasm between what is needed and what is currently delivered.
- Posted
- 5 comments
-
3
-
- (and 9 more)
-
Community Post
Restorative justice: can we use it in healthcare to repair harm?
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted a topic in Culture
- (and 5 more)
Restorative justice brings those harmed by crime or conflict and those responsible for the harm into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward. This is part of a wider field called restorative practice. Restorative practice can be used anywhere to prevent conflict, build relationships and repair harm by enabling people to communicate effectively and positively. This approach is increasingly being used in schools, children’s services, workplaces, hospitals, communities and the criminal justice system. What are your thoughts on how this approach would work in a healthcare setting? Does anyone have any experience of using restorative practice?- Posted
- 2 replies
-
- (and 5 more)
-
News Article
Health secretary to investigate allegations of women denied epidurals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women in labour are being denied epidurals by NHS hospitals, amid concern that a “cult of natural childbirth” is leaving rising numbers in agony. Last night, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, promised an investigation, and action to ensure women’s choices were respected, pledging to make the NHS maternity services the world-leader. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph found hospitals refusing clear requests from mothers-to-be, in breach of official guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Mr Hancock said all expectant mothers should be able to make an informed choice, knowing their choice would be fully respected. “Clinical guidance clearly state that you can ask for pain relief at any time – before and during labour – and as long as it is safe to do so this should never be refused. I’m concerned by evidence that such requests are being denied for anything other than a clinical reason,” he said. “It's vital this guidance is being followed right across our NHS, as part of making it the best place in the world to give birth. Women being denied pain relief is wrong, and we will be investigating.” One mother, describing her experience at one NHS Hospital said: "It made me feel unsafe psychologically - I couldn't speak up, I couldn’t say what I wanted to say, I couldn’t advocate for myself medically because people were ignoring or belittling me. It feels that in childbirth, it’s a given that the doctor is taking their personal beliefs with them to the table, whereas in any other area of healthcare that would be unacceptable." Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 26 January 2020 -
Content Article
Resources for setting up learning from excellence reporting
Claire Cox posted an article in Motivating staff
Safety in healthcare has traditionally focused on avoiding harm by learning from error. This approach may miss opportunities to learn from excellent practice. Excellence in healthcare is highly prevalent, but there is no formal system to capture it. We tend to regard excellence as something to gratefully accept, rather than something to study and understand. The preoccupation with avoiding error and harm in healthcare has resulted in the rise of rules and rigidity, which in turn has cultivated a culture of fear and stifled innovation. It is time to redress the balance. It is believed that studying excellence in healthcare can create new opportunities for learning and improving resilience and staff morale. This page is for useful resources for setting up and maintaining an excellence reporting programme:
