Call to Organisations: Invest in Skills That Save Lives
A recent 7NEWS report revealed thousands of preventable hospital deaths in Australia were linked to human error, half involving failures in communication, timely decision‑making, and information transfer during hospital handovers and transfers.¹ Clearly, effective communication is not a “soft skill.” Effective communication is an essential clinical skill that determine whether the right information is noticed, understood, challenged, and acted on.
Australia’s NSQHS Communicating for Safety Standard is clear: communication failures and poor documentation drive errors, misdiagnosis, and inappropriate treatment, especially at transitions of care and when critical information changes.² Add to that global evidence showing poor communication is the sole cause in ~1 in 10 safety incidents and a contributing factor in ~1 in 4, and we have a systemic problem that can’t be solved by ‘technical’' expertise alone.³
Stop calling them “non‑technical”
When we label listening, escalation, and handover as “non‑technical,” we unintentionally downgrade their importance. These skills are behavioural (how we respond and react), cognitive (how we think under pressure and what we say), and social (how we coordinate and relate across hierarchy and disciplines), and they are measurable, trainable, and auditable. My stance has been consistent: communication is an essential clinical (technical) skill and must be practiced with the same rigour as clinical procedures. (See blog post: “It’s time to stop using the terms ‘technical and non‑technical skills’—please!”)
The missing half of “speaking up”
Most programs teach people how to speak up. Fewer teach teams how to receive and act on concerns. The Receiver Mindset closes that gap:
React — notice your emotions and pause (this is a clinical safety moment).
Reframe — attribute positive intent; ask, “What might I be missing?”
Engage — invite a clear, time‑bound plan; confirm understanding and document. Engage in a safety negotiation, rather than a one-way speaking up ‘conversation.’
When receivers respond well, colleagues raise concerns earlier and more often. That’s how communication prevents harm, not just by creating voices, but by ensuring those voices land, are understood, and lead to action. (See blog post: “Are you interested in patient safety? React–Reframe–Engage”).
Conversations that consistently save lives
Safety Negotiations
Speaking up encounters that equally involve speaker and receiver to engage in achieving shared understanding of the situation (See program - Reframing Safety Through Conversation). This requires training how to speak up and how to listen.
Documentation as a conversation
Patient records are the only voice that travels with the patient. Many tragedies in the 7NEWS story involved transfers where information didn’t follow the patient.¹ Treat documentation as clinical communication; clear, timely, reconciled across systems. Be aware that social identity will also influence how to communicate and listen in written form!
Aligning with national and global direction
The NSQHS Communicating for Safety Standard maps governance, handover, identification, critical information, and documentation, precisely the failure points highlighted in the news report.² Globally, the WHO Patient Safety Action Plan (2021–2030) prioritises structured communication, patient/family engagement, and high‑reliability team behaviours as levers to eliminate avoidable harm.⁵ This means, communication and the behavioural, cognitive and social elements, are key clinical skills and need to prioritised as such.
Call to Organisations: Invest in Skills That Save Lives
If you truly want safer care, invest in communication training, and make it multi‑level and measurable:
Behavioural skills: Receiver Mindset framework, graded assertiveness and response; psychological safety in the moment.
Cognitive skills: risk framing, understanding the influence of context and social identity, situational awareness, time‑based decisions under uncertainty.
Social skills: structured handovers, cross‑disciplinary coordination, patient/family involvement.
This isn’t “nice to have.” It’s the clinical infrastructure that turns expertise into outcomes. The cost of not investing is written in our coroner reports, audit findings, and avoidable mortality data.¹ ² ³
Reframing Safety Through Conversation is our simulation‑based program that embeds these behavioural, cognitive, and social skills—aligned with NSQHS Standard 6 and the WHO action plan. We help teams make communication clinically reliable at the exact moments it matters most: handovers, escalations, and decisions under pressure.
Ready to reduce avoidable harm?
Let’s co‑design a fast, focused rollout for your service!
References
7NEWS — Thousands of preventable hospital deaths in Australia caused by human error, major study reveals. (28 Dec 2025) https://7news.com.au/news/thousands-of-preventable-hospital-deaths-in-australia-caused-by-human-error-major-study-reveals-c-21141795
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) — NSQHS Communicating for Safety Standard https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/communicating-safety-standard
MedicalXpress — One in ten patient safety incidents in hospitals due to poor communication. (28 Apr 2025) https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-ten-patient-safety-incidents-hospitals.pdf
ACSQHC Resource Library — SBAR Communication Tool (template) https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/publications-and-resources/resource-library/sbar-communication-tool
World Health Organization — Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030. https://www.who.int/teams/integrated-health-services/patient-safety/policy/global-patient-safety-action-plan
Reframing Conversations posts:
Are you interested in patient safety? React–Reframe–Engage — https://www.reframingconversations.com/blog/are-you-interested-in-patient-safety
Why Speaking Up Training in Healthcare Isn’t Working—And What Needs to Change — https://www.reframingconversations.com/blog/why-speaking-up-training-in-healthcare-isnt-working-and-what-needs-to-change
It’s time to stop using the terms ‘technical and non‑technical skills’—please! — https://www.reframingconversations.com/blog/its-time-to-stop-using-the-terms-technical-and-non-technical-skills-please
Information on Safety Negotiations - see:
Barlow, M., Watson, B., Morse, K., Jones, E., & Maccallum, F. (2023). React, reframe and engage. Establishing a receiver mindset for more effective safety negotiations. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 38(7). https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-06-2023-0171