References
Creating a just and learning culture through staff support
Abstract
A just and learning culture consists of a balance of fairness, justice, learning and taking responsibility for actions. It is not about seeking to blame an individual when care falls short of expectations or goes wrong. A recently published report from NHS Resolution, Being fair, sets out the argument for organisations to adopt a more reflective approach to learning from incidents and supporting staff. Instead of asking ‘who is to blame?’ or ‘what did you do?’, try asking ‘what happened?’ and ‘what were the circumstances?’ Such an approach may be the key to improving levels of patient care, as well as the professional and personal lives of veterinary personnel.
The vast majority of veterinary nurses and surgeons work in veterinary practice because they wish to provide the very best level of care possible to their patients. There is rarely an intent by staff to provide care that is below expected standards. When things go wrong in terms of patient safety, these incidents are often treated as failures (NHS Resolution, 2019). Shorrock and Williams (2017) suggested that when things have not gone as expected within human healthcare, there is a fear of being blamed, of consequences regarding future employment and of what family, colleagues and friends will think.
A study undertaken by Hartnack et al (2013) confirmed a similar situation within veterinary practice, having reported universal acknowledgement among veterinary anaesthetists that when mistakes and near-misses occur, nobody speaks of errors and there is a fear of punishment in the aftermath.
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