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Medical providers, hospitals, and medical labs are challenged to create cultures driven by both ethics and safety. Errors arise from poor technique, workplace fatigue, failures of perception, lack of knowledge, and misjudgments. Measuring the extent of adverse events and taking action to reduce them are undoubtedly crucial in creating a culture where errors are reduced and where ethical honesty around errors is visibly present. The culture of healthcare understandably focuses on caring for patients, even at the expense of security and safety (Martin et al., 2017). One symptom of this ‘patient-centered' culture is the widespread tension that ethical decision making against the interests finding quicker paths to curing those that are sick and diseased (Hemphill, 2015). When errors or unsafe practices occur, it is vital that organizations be open and honest with those that have been impacted (Hemphill, 2015). The risk of litigation and costly settlements has further discouraged disclose information about errors (Hemphill, 2015). Transforming the culture of medicine to increase reporting of errors is central to current efforts to reduce future error in healthcare (Hemphill, 2015).
Often organizations do not openly disclose the extent and nature of unsafe practices and often it is whistleblowing that leads to the public finding out the severity of errors or issue. This requires the need to understand the importance of ethical organizational cultures and the decision-making process that takes place when an employee or employees decide to blow the whistle on unsafe practices in healthcare organizations.
Developing social and emotional intelligence is a critical aspect of business acumen (Goleman, 2007). The impact of emotional acumen concerning whistle-blowing is an essential consideration for organizations that engage in operations involving potential safety or financial risks to customers, the public, the government, and the organizations themselves. An individual's emotional, ethical, and moral perceptiveness in a given situation correlates with his or her ability to respond appropriately and is expressed in terms of emotional and social intelligence (Goleman, 2005, 2007; Rathbone, 2012) since the act of whistle-blowing involves the ability to understand, analyze, decide, and respond, emotional acumen can be expected to play a significant role in determining whether an individual will engage in it (Burke & Cooper, 2013).
A safe culture is one in which those in charge are not only willing to hear bad news but also welcome that news as an opportunity to prevent or mitigate potential harms (Hemphill, 2015). Developing such a culture is essential to improve both the safety and the quality of care delivery (Hemphill, 2015). Mistakes with surgical procedures comprehended medical discharge instructions and dispensing of medications are examples of issues that can occur in health care settings (Hemphill, 2015). The use of new health care technologies and techniques have promised to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare delivery, instead of eliminating errors, the use of new technologies have created new potential risks around safety and errors in healthcare (Hemphill, 2015). To indeed improve safety healthcare, there needs to be transparency and focus on creating organizational cultures that accept that humans make mistakes (Hemphill, 2015). The focus must not be on blame, punishment, and cover-up, but instead building an ethical fault tolerant system that maintains the safety of both staff and patients (Hemphill, 2015).