Teamwork, organizational learning, patient safety and job outcomes

This article aims to encourage healthcare administrators to consider the learning organization concept and foster collaborative learning among teams in their attempt to improve patient safety.

Relevant healthcare, organizational behavior and human resource management literature was reviewed.

A patient safety culture, fostered by healthcare leaders, should include an organizational culture that encourages collaborative learning, replaces the blame culture, prioritizes patient safety and rewards individuals who identify serious mistakes.

As healthcare institution staffs are being asked to deliver more complex medical services with fewer resources, there is a need to understand how hospital staff can learn from other organizational settings, especially the non-healthcare sectors.

The paper provides suggestions for improving patient safety which are drawn from the health and business management literature.