AHRQ Patient Safety Network ► Deafening silence? Time to reconsider whether organisations are silent or deaf when things go wrong.

AHRQ Patient Safety Network

While much has been written about clinician silence in the face of safety hazards, editorial argues that institutional silence is also a major problem.BMJ Qual Saf. 2014 Jul 11; [Epub ahead of print].

Deafening silence? Time to reconsider whether organisations are silent or deaf when things go wrong.

Jones A, Kelly D. BMJ Qual Saf. 2014 Jul 11; [Epub ahead of print].

This commentary explores the differences between individuals failing to raise concerns and organizationsdisregarding problems that have been reported. Several organizational failures in the National Health Service provide context for this comparison and illustrate the need to build systems that reliably record and respond to shortcomings raised by staff.

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