A commenter at Maggie Mahar’s blog recounts a story about how nurses were hesitant to speak up after a sponge count. The surgeons were civil, but the observer noted a climate of fear.
Change needs to start at the academic medical centers, where the majority of surgeons are trained. In these institutions, top surgeons are generally revered, and this fosters a hierarchical climate.
Residents and rotating medical students pick up on that. If institutions want to seriously empower support staff to speak up, it needs to start in academia.
Related posts:
- Culture of surgery
- Restricting resident work hours leads to a shortage of surgeons
- What do primary care physicians and cardiac surgeons have in common?
- Why doctors and nurses should engage in social media
- Plastic surgeons
- Are female surgeons happier than their male counterparts?
- Surgeons don’t receive enough training when resident work-hours are capped
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