Psychological Safety in Healthcare: Why we need it so much.

I want to invite you to an exclusive masterclass I will be conducting for ETHRWorld and Indeed.com on June 16, 2022, 11 AM-12 PM IST.

Discover how improving psychological safety in your organization can drive diversity, inclusion, and innovation. Excellent breakout activities have been specifically designed for this event.

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Last week we looked at the importance of psychological safety in the Hospitality industry, what unique characteristics of teams in Hospitality are supported by high psychological safety, and how it affects the specific measures of performance for that industry.

This week, let’s look at another industry that we have been very conscious of through the pandemic: Healthcare.

Dr. David Hunt and his colleagues at Oxford University in the UK studied psychological safety in health services. This is what they observed:

“A culture of blame and fear is still prevalent in healthcare organisations, which is detrimental to patient safety, staff morale, and organisational performance, leading to unreported errors and decreased patient safety. This culture [is] compounded in countries that strictly adhere to hierarchical structures, where structure and control are paramount, with little to no opportunity for candid conversations across different organisation levels.”

“Countries with market cultures may place competitiveness over the importance of discussing failures, creating a potentially toxic environment.”

There’s a wealth of information in this observation, but let’s focus on a couple of aspects. Dr. Hunt speaks of two different types of societies, one that has strict hierarchical structures and one with market culture.?

He notes that both bring a unique set of challenges to healthcare. And in the Asia-Pacific region, we have many countries with not only a high-power distance society that accepts and expects strong hierarchies but also a firmly established market-driven culture. A “double whammy”!

And when there is low psychological safety in healthcare teams in our region, what does Dr. Hunt’s research tell us we should expect to see? He mentions three potentially devastating outcomes:

1. A culture of blame and fear
2. Little opportunity for candid conversations across different organisation levels
3. Competitiveness is more important than discussing failures.

He’s describing teams that have little hope of learning from their mistakes and will, in fact, prioritise “winning” over learning. Patients who are being cared for by teams like this will undoubtedly have worse outcomes. And this is clearly shown by research across healthcare.?

But what if psychological safety is high?

Research by Dr. Kristen Demertzis from South Shore University Hospital and her colleagues found many benefits of high psychological safety in healthcare teams, including:

• Increased team cohesion and effective communication
• More successful patient rescue from major surgical complications
• Better infection control practice compliance
• Improved new surgical techniques and equipment implementation
• Decreased readmission rates
• Fewer operational failures (e.g. missing equipment/information)
• Less provider burnout, and many more benefits.

Could it be any clearer that healthcare teams need high psychological safety?

Last year, I spoke with a senior HR leader in the region who had worked with nursing teams in several high power-distance cultures. He had interviewed nursing staff who had observed doctors making errors that could lead to fatal outcomes for the patient - but had failed to speak up, even though this could have saved the life of the patient.?

The reason: Fear of the consequences of going against the strong hierarchy that exists in healthcare in the region.

I have to ask, if you consider healthcare teams of high or low psychological safety, which team would you rather be taking care of you or your loved ones? And which team would you rather be working in?

Do you work in the healthcare industry? Please, let’s hear your stories of psychological safety!

Next time, we’ll look at research on the benefits of psychological safety in another industry.

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Build highly engaged and high-performing teams by boosting psychological safety in your workplace. BOOK a 30-minute free consulting session with me to find out how I can help.