Building a culture of curiosity can foster quality care, improve nurse satisfaction, enhance patient safety and build trust, according to Sue Behrens, DNP, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, and Mentor (Ohio) Hospital.
“When leaders encourage curiosity on their teams, people are free to unleash their creativity and explore new options,” Dr. Behrens said in an op-ed published on the health system’s website. “They pause, step outside the black-and-white of current process and practice, reconsider and ask questions that challenge the status quo.”
A curiosity-driven culture encourages nurses to proactively identify improvements and opportunities. This leads to new ideas, workflows and innovations that can support continuous quality improvement, she said.
Dr. Behrens outlined three steps to build such a culture:
- Create a psychologically safe space for sharing ideas and suggestions. This includes fostering a no-blame environment where people from different disciplines can effectively collaborate and listen to one another.
- Encourage caregivers to share stories, insights and lessons learned with the team. These shared experiences reinforce what matters most and how change can positively affect care delivery and safety.
- Support ideation and inspire innovation from the top down. Leaders who embrace curiosity empower nurses to collaborate with stakeholders and contribute their perspectives.
“When caregivers consider others’ viewpoints as part of the innovation process, new information and ideas surface, problem-solving is more comprehensive, the risk of missing pertinent information is minimized, and deeper insight is offered for making change,” she said.
Dr. Behrens said a culture of curiosity supports improved quality, continuous learning, higher job satisfaction and retention, increased engagement and greater trust among peers, while also improving organizational structures and standardization.
