The reality is that we have operated for years in an environment where people were punished or looked down upon for making errors. Such negative energy around mistakes has decreased our sense of self-esteem. Therefore, many nurses find it hard to receive feedback and even harder to give feedback directly to the person involved. The culture is changing, however, and your response to mistakes in the workplace is critical to creating a safer environment for your patients.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Don’t leave notes on lockers or send emails regarding mistakes—it’s too sensitive an issue. You can’t reveal your intention (tone of voice) unless the exchange is face to face. All too often written notes feel like an attack.
- If you judge an error to be significant, say something every time.
- If the error is insignificant, let it slide once or twice. But if you notice a pattern, you should say something.
Source: Stressed Out About Communication Skills, HCPro, Inc., 2007. Be sure to pick up your copy today!
October 13th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Mike, I really need to reiterate the importance of communicating face to face when it is a peer. I know personally that some of my emails to peers and staff have been perceived as “lashing out” and even “crazed” at times. Remember that it is always the perception of the receiver that makes or breaks the open communication. No one likes to make mistakes but most individuals like to know when they do. Gently letting a peer know will earn their respect and bump up patient safety and quality.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It is so true. I havent made any mistakes yet but I’m sure I am going to make many in the future- its a part of what makes us learn. I actually sat down with my resource nurse the other day and went over a bunch of JACHO stuff to make sure that if I were to make a mistake the proper steps to learn from it. I really appreciated him doing that with me because it made me feel more comfortable with my orientation.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
We all make mistakes, just we don’t always know if we have made them because they weren’t caught by ourselves of anyone else. We need to consider that as well.
I find going through procedures and policy step by step and finding alternate routes to get to the final product to decrease error and better quality helps. There are always more than one good way to doing most things, and some people are better at one way than another.
My unit has had a high influx of international staff with a variety of changes to their scopes of practice. I’ve been prone to identify the small errors right away, as habits form quickly, and usually the errors came from being unaware, or thinking the procedure is the same from where they came from. Tone is everything. I try to smile and joke around to ease it up.