Psychological safety can support high-quality teamwork and communication. This article reports on perceived patient and psychological safety following an interprofessional obstetrical communication and psychological safety training as part of the TeamBaby research project. After the training, perceived patient safety risks were lower.

Miscommunication between healthcare providers can contribute to adverse events, but communication may be improved by strengthening psychological safety. This paper describes two studies on the association of communication, patient safety threats, and higher quality care and the mediating effect of psychological safety in obstetrical care. Results suggest psychological safety mediates the association of communication with quality of care and patient safety.

… birth position, but not in other categories . … Hüner B, Derksen C, Schmiedhofer M, et al. Reducing preventable adverse events in …

… available in the curated library on maternal safety . … Derksen C, Kötting L, Keller FM, et al. Psychological intervention to improve …

… of a preexisting condition, and on-call duty. … Hüner B, Derksen C, Schmiedhofer M, Lippke S, Janni W, Scholz C. Preventable Adverse Events in …

… to all staff and expectant mothers and their partners. … Lippke S, Derksen C, Keller FM, et al. Effectiveness of communication …

Teamwork and clinician well-being have important implications for patient safety. Researchers conducted a systematic review of the literature and found evidence supporting independent relationships between teamwork, clinician well-being, and patient safety. The authors propose a framework that addresses current limitations and suggest that further research is needed to better understand the causal relationships between the three concepts.

Emotional exhaustion is a component of burnout—a critical patient safety issue. Teamwork promotes resilience and thus may protect against burnout and promote patient safety. However, it is unclear how teamwork, burnout, and patient safety interact in a safety culture. This prospective study of critical care interprofessional teams found that clinicians' emotional exhaustion affects teamwork, which leads to worsening clinician reports of patient safety. The authors suggest addressing clinicians' emotional exhaustion prior to team training in order to best augment patient safety in the intensive care unit. A PSNet interview discusses strategies to enhance clinicians' emotional resilience.

This Swiss study sought to determine the relationship between elements of clinician burnout and mortality, length of stay, and ratings of patient safety. The authors found that clinicians demonstrating symptoms of burnout had lower perceptions of patient safety in the intensive care unit. However, higher levels of burnout among clinicians were not linked to clinical outcomes.