Healthcare Quality Management: Employee Safety
Truly, both employee safety and patient safety are important and interrelated concepts. Employee safety refers to measures taken to ensure that healthcare workers are protected from physical, emotional, and mental harm while performing their job duties. Patient safety, on the other hand, involves ensuring that patients receive care that is safe, effective, and minimizes the risk of harm.
As I am attending the Quality Management Conference as part of #ArabHealth2023, there are many discussions about patient safety. This makes sense given the critical nature of that domain of quality management In healthcare.
Healthcare organizations must strive to balance the need for employee safety with the need for patient safety. For example, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) can protect healthcare workers from exposure to infectious diseases, but it can also create barriers to effective communication and patient-provider interaction, potentially compromising patient safety.
Notice, that there is no PPE for psychological safety for employees, an area I devote a lot of time to with my clients. #PsychologicalSafety refers to the feeling of being safe in a workplace where one can express oneself freely, be treated with respect, and not fear retaliation or criticism. Psychological danger refers to potential harm to a person's mental and emotional well-being, such as exposure to workplace stress, burnout, bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
To address psychological danger in the healthcare environment, organizations can implement a variety of strategies. This can include creating a positive work culture that emphasizes respect, open communication, and support for mental and emotional well-being. Providing training and resources for stress management, burnout prevention, and conflict resolution can also be helpful. Additionally, promoting work-life balance, flexible schedules, and access to mental health resources can contribute to a supportive and healthy work environment for healthcare workers.
The critical point to make here is that we want amazing workplace cultures that make it unnecessary for employees to need protection from one another.
Pam Jackson, PhD, is an organizational and behavioral economist building the skills and value of human capital in workplaces around the world. Based in Dubai, UAE, and serving clients in such countries as Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, Dr. Pam also reaches the USA, UK, and Europe to provide corporate training, coaching, and consulting to improve workplace culture and ensure high-performing teams. Contact her team here.
