Patient safety and health worker safety go hand in hand
Another World Patient Safety Day has come and gone with great virtual fanfare. The theme was one that should resonate widely given the ongoing pandemic: the important link between health worker safety and patient safety.
Health care providers around the world are engaged in actions intended to enhance health, yet they regularly put themselves at risk to care for their patients. Working in stressful environments can make this burden worse. The pandemic brought these dangers to a new level, revealing how risks to health workers risk patient health and safety in turn. Creating a safe space for workers has never been more important.
Today, health workers worry about being infected with the novel coronavirus themselves and contributing to the spread of the virus at work, at home, or in their communities. Health workers have also had to work with limited access or adherence to personal protective equipment and other infection prevention and control measures. They’ve had to be resilient in the face of everchanging work policies and practices. They’ve also had to bear the burden of being seen as responsible for suboptimal care which could potentially harm patients and fellow health workers.
Such stressors take a toll on the wellbeing and safety of our health providers. And that’s not good for patients.
Research has shown organizational climate can affect both patient and worker safety. A recent review reveals a strong correlation between high levels of health worker burnout, often caused by work overload and a lack of empowerment, and worsening patient experiences and outcomes.
Compromises in patient safety rooted in organizational structures and culture can also cause anxiety and distress among health workers. Consider the well-documented dilemmas faced by workers in long-term care where worker safety outcomes can be seen as an indicator of quality in nursing homes.
In many countries, including Canada, health care providers are facing increased risks of infections, violence, mistakes, guilt, stigma, illness and even death.
What needs to happen to ensure patient and health-care worker safety? Improved investments in health worker physical and psychological health and safety should be a national, provincial/territorial and organizational priority for improving patient safety outcomes.
In fact, the World Health Organization has called on governments to commit to urgent and sustainable action to ensure health worker safety and patient safety. Key suggested action areas include establishing synergies between health worker safety and patient safety policies, and the development and implementation of national programs for better occupational health and safety of health workers. WHO also calls on governments to protect health workers from violence in the workplace, as well as for the improvement of mental health of the health workforce.
In the recent speech from the throne, the federal government stated we owe an immense debt to our health-care personnel. The pandemic has made clear why Canadians “need a resilient health care system.” But for our health systems to stay resilient, we need to safeguard the health and well-being of our health workforce — from personal support workers, to home-care aides, to nurses and doctors, lab workers and beyond.
Dr. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault is a professor of sociological and anthropological studies at the University of Ottawa and the lead of the Canadian Health Workforce Network. Chris Power is CEO of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. Her journey in health care began at the bedside as a front-line nurse.