The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren’t Enough to Save Lives

National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education's picture
Submitted by National Center... on May 26, 2015 - 12:28pm CDT

Resource Type: 
Report

 

Silence Kills was conducted immediately before AACN’s national standards for healthy work environments were released. It identified seven concerns that often go undiscussed and contribute to avoidable medical errors. It linked the ability of health professionals to discuss emotionally and politically risky topics in a healthcare setting to key results like patient safety, quality of care, and nursing turnover, among others.

The Silent Treatment shows how nurses’ failure to speak up when risks are known undermines the effectiveness of current safety tools. It then focuses on three specific concerns that often result in a decision to not speak up: dangerous shortcuts, incompetence, and disrespect. The Silent Treatment tracks the frequency and impact of these communication breakdowns, then uses a blend of quantitative and qualitative data to determine actions that individuals and organizations can take to resolve avoidable breakdowns.

 

Author(s): 
David Maxfield
Joseph Grenny
Ramón Lavandero
Linda Groah
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