*3.1.1.7 Psychological safety*

To function at a high level, trust between team members is imperative. Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for making suggestions or admitting to error. This encourages transparency amongst team members. A no-blame culture is fostered where active participation and critical thinking can flourish, allowing the team to discuss and learn from their mistakes [5]. This collaborative approach will address deficits in the team's processes to improve the safety of patient care. Maintaining the dignity of a patient in the critical care unit is central to good care. Placing an emphasis on the dignity of staff is important to staff psychological safety and retention. Each unit needs to have active measures in place to tackle bullying. Bullying is extremely damaging and contributes to high staff turnover, which impacts patient care. Focus on upstream measures is most effective creating a positive culture of support for each other at a fundamental human level exposes those who begin to engage in bullying as being out of step with the 'norm' for this unit. This approach includes coaching and mentoring through addressing errors, and remediation to keep staff working safely. All team members should be encouraged to care for themselves emotionally and physically, with institutional promotion of self-care, good mental health and collegial conduct.
