EP. 128: From Silence to Safety: Building Cultures Where People Speak Up

EP. 128: From Silence to Safety: Building Cultures Where People Speak Up

From Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare, One Cup at a Time by Healthy Workforce Institute

March 11, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of psychological safety in healthcare and how it impacts patient safety and workplace culture.

You can’t build a true culture of patient safety without psychological safety. In this episode, Dr. Renee Thompson sits down with Dr. Stephanie Stovall, Chief Quality Officer at OSF HealthCare, to unpack the very real link between workplace culture and clinical outcomes. Stephanie explains why fear of being “picked apart” or punished makes people less likely to speak up. That silence puts patients at risk. She shares a pivotal early-career story about a medication decision, and how strong feedback, paired with a follow-up conversation, can protect patients and build confidence instead of shame. They also dig into what it looks like when safety becomes “as automatic as getting dressed,” why anonymous reporting can signal low psychological safety, and how real-time debriefs shift teams from blame to collaborative problem-solving. Tune in to hear practical ways leaders can build trust, strengthen speaking-up behaviors, and make Safety everyone’s job, every day. About Dr. Stephanie Stovall: Dr. Stephanie Stovall is the Chief Quality Officer at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Illinois, where she leads enterprise efforts to strengthen quality, safety, and high-reliability care. Before OSF…

More episodes of Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare, One Cup at a Time

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare, One Cup at a Time podcast page.