In early 2021, CEOs from leading hospitals and health systems across the U.S. convened virtually to examine standards of safety and trust for healthcare team members at every level of their organizations. Their goal was to collectively take action to protect the well-being of these essential team members and ensure that they have the systems, tools, technologies, and resources they need and deserve to feel safe at work. These discussions resulted in a Declaration of Principles for the physical and emotional safety and just treatment of all who work in healthcare. Their work kicks off a national movement and action plan to turn these Principles into meaningful change.
We invite healthcare CEOs across the country to catalyze the work by joining the Coalition Founders to renew and expand the definition of safety for a better, more inclusive future of caring.
We witnessed selfless acts of courage, care, and compassion from our nation’s healthcare team members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Safety is at the heart of protecting our healthcare workforce, which means being safe from physical and emotional harm and free from all forms of inequity and racial injustice. Workplace violence, burnout, and disparities existed long before the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic has, however, exacerbated the factors contributing to workplace violence, created an environment of unprecedented stress, and exposed the impact of systemic inequities and racial injustice on the well-being of healthcare team members.
We believe a renewed and expanded definition of safety is needed to restore trust, recruit and retain individuals to the healing professions, enable care to be provided with the greatest skill and humanity, and ensure the well-being of every person working in healthcare. We commit to:
Our ability to build trust and provide the care patients require and deserve is dependent on the physical and emotional safety and the just treatment of all those who provide or support patient care. We commit ourselves to this new definition of safety to ensure that no healthcare team member will have to sacrifice their personal safety, health, identity, or well-being to do their jobs and care for patients.
CEO and President
Cleveland Clinic
CEO
Hackensack Meridian Health
President and CEO
HealthPartners
Former President and CEO
Henry Ford Health System
President and CEO
Intermountain Healthcare
President and CEO
Mass General Brigham
President & CEO
Providence
President and CEO
SSM Health
CEO
UCLA Hospital System
CEO
Zuckerberg San Francisco General
Former Chairman and CEO
Vocera
Former Chief Medical Officer
Vocera
President and CEO
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
President and CEO
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
President & CEO
ChristianaCare
President and CEO
Valleywise Health
President & CEO
Froedtert Health
President & CEO
The Queen’s Health Systems
President & CEO
Bergen New Bridge Medical Center
President University of Chicago Medical Center
President and CEO Christ Hospital Health Network
President and CEO WellSpan Health
Leaders like you are essential to catalyzing this movement and protecting the physical and emotional well-being and just treatment of nurses, physicians, and all healthcare team members. We invite the CEOs of hospitals and healthcare systems across the nation to sign the Declaration and to involve their teams in ongoing work to make a meaningful difference.
We will follow up with a conversation about how your organization can support the efforts to renew and expand the definition of safety and help protect healthcare team members.