Heart of Safety Coalition Redefining care team safety

Blog 
Read about big ideas and best practices that advance health justice and help protect the psychological, emotional and physical safety of all care team members. After you read these blog posts, explore our resources page for more insights and inspiration.

Patient safety depends on care team safety: takeaways from the 2024 Press Ganey report

Patient safety depends on care team safety. It is a concept central to the Heart of Safety Coalition and its Declaration of Principles. While patient safety and care team safety are rarely talked about as being one in the same, they're strongly connected. This idea was echoed in the 2024 safety in healhtcare report by Press Ganey. 

Read more

Removing mental health stigma in licensure and credentialing to support care team wellbeing

The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation is dedicated to reducing stigma and breaking down barriers to access mental health services. Critical to this movement is eliminating intrusive questions embedded in state licensing and credentialing applications for clinicians. 

Read more

Patient code of conduct report provides insight on communicating and enforcing workplace violence policies

Reducing workplace violence in healthcare settings is more likely when patients, visitors and team members share an understandng of what appropriate conduct looks like and what the consequences are when standards are not met.

Read more

Healthcare Workforce Rescue Package: five steps to support care teams now

The Coalition, in collaboration with workforce wellbeing experts and the National Academy of Medicine, outlined five critical actions healthcare leaders can take to safeguard their care teams members' emotional and psychological needs.

Read more

Breaking barriers, creating pathways for diverse talent in nurse anesthesia

Mentorships, holistic admissions and systemic change can open doors for underrepresented talent. Wallena Gould, EdD, CRNA, FAAN, founder of Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship, has dedicated nearly two decades to creating more access and diversity to advance anesthesia education and careers. 

Read more

Humans as an essential source of safety: a frameshift for system resilience

There are many ways to build a culture of safety and support care team wellbeing. Some healthcare organizations focus on solutions for individuals, while others take a system approach. Explore the stark differences between a Safety I and Safety II mindset, and learn how they impact people and organizations.  

Read more

Evidence-based practices support Heart of Safety Declaration of Principles

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) researched evidence and experience-based practices that support the principles outlined in our Heart of Safety Declaration, uncovering over 30 practices that support care team safety and wellbeing.

Read more

Turning values into value: respect at NYP

Together, NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) leaders and frontline team members created a Respect Credo after delving into data, talking to staff and reviewing exit interview notes and other resources. Based on learnings and the credo, NYP applied the principles of respect to their process improvement work and to their efforts to attain Magnet Recognition Program® certification. NYP also applied respect to the concept of staff safety.

Read more

A neurosurgeon's view on compassion

After experiencing personal loss, Joseph Stern, MD, had a new view of medicine, patient healing and care team member wellbeing. Now, Dr. Stern is dedicating his post-surgical career to teaching compassion in action to help fellow neurosurgeons. His work falls into three focus areas: palliative care integration, surgical ergonomics and building connection and communication skills.

Read more

System change is at the heart of wellbeing

The National Taskforce for Humanity in Healthcare (NTH) knew, even before the added trauma of COVID-19, that safeguarding clinician wellbeing would take more than a push for self-care. So, the Taskforce put together a change program that focused on building communication skills, training the skills of human-centered leadership, team-driven process improvement, and hardwiring positive emotions into daily work. 

Read more

NASA TLX survey: Help retain nurses, fix communication

Using the NASA Task Load Index (TLX), more than 500 nurses were surveyed to gauge the mental, physical and temporal demand of a communication experience. In addition to measuring demand, the NASA TLX survey asked nurses’ perception of performance, effort and frustration levels.

Read more