Humanizing Harm: A Restorative Approach to Heal and Learn from Adverse Events" offers vital insights into improving healthcare through compassionate practices.

The article "Humanizing Harm: A Restorative Approach to Heal and Learn from Adverse Events" by Wailling et al., highlights the persistent challenges of patient safety and the impact of adverse events in healthcare. Despite years of safety protocols, around 10% of hospital patients globally continue to experience harm. The authors suggest that traditional investigative responses to these events often overlook the human elements, potentially worsening the trauma for patients, families, and healthcare professionals.

This paper argues for a shift towards a Restorative Just Culture (RJC) in healthcare settings. RJC emphasizes healing and system learning simultaneously, advocating for a holistic approach to incident investigations. It moves away from the blame-centered culture that has dominated healthcare, proposing instead a framework that focuses on understanding systemic failures and fostering a supportive environment for those involved.

The authors call for incident responses to be designed within both relational and regulatory frameworks. By doing so, they believe it can change the focus, conduct, and outcomes of investigations, making them more effective and humane. This approach not only aims to prevent future errors but also supports healthcare providers' mental health and resilience by creating an organizational culture that values transparency, continuous learning, and compassionate accountability.

The complete article, which can be accessed here, explores these ideas and their implementation in full.