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.
