Psychological safety in healthcare – helping everyone to speak up

Abstract

Psychological safety is important for excellence in team performance. Team performance is compromised when team members fear the consequences of speaking up to raise concerns about wrongdoing or an individual.

Consistent delivery of safe and the best quality of care is the prime responsibility of healthcare teams. Those involved in neonatal intensive care are not an exception. The importance of psychological safety in healthcare cannot be overemphasised considering the unique nature and complexity of this industry. It is also important for teaching hospitals with added responsibility for high-quality training, education and research. The issue of psychological safety is more relevant for healthcare organizations considering their strict hierarchy where careers depend on performance appraisals. Facilitating a culture of psychological safety is the responsibility of everyone holding a leadership role in an organization.

We briefly review the history of psychological safety, the reasons why it matters in healthcare, impact on all stakeholders when it is missing, tools for assessing its presence and balance in a team, and the role of leaders at all levels in facilitating a culture of psychological safety in an organization. The barriers and facilitators of psychological safety and key issues about the phenomenon of whistleblowing are discussed.