Physician Leadership Journal Peer reviewed
The Feedback Protocol: Operationalizing Psychological Safety
This article highlights that psychological safety alone isn't enough in healthcare. It advocates for a Feedback Protocol to ensure frontline concerns lead to timely action, fostering trust, accountability, and patient safety.
November/December 2026 Vol. 13, No. 6 pp. 26–29 DOI: 10.55834/plj.2826792515
Abstract
This discussion article argues that psychological safety, while important, is not sufficient unless healthcare organizations can convert frontline concern into investigation, action, and feedback within two weeks. The central operational problem is not only fear-based silence, but the repeated failure of reporting pathways to produce visible consequences. The article examines how delayed review, anonymous reporting, and weak feedback loops erode trust and learning capacity. The author proposes a more practical leadership response centered on structured feedback processes, faster signal handling, and cross-level accountability. Introduced as the Feedback Protocol, it is important because patient safety and leadership accountability require systems that can move frontline observations into timely action.
