Speaking Up for Safety: Psychological Safety and Escalation

1. Program overview

Most staff who see something unsafe say nothing. The reasons are well documented — hierarchy, uncertainty, fear of being wrong, and previous experience of being dismissed. This course treats speaking up as a learnable skill rather than a personality trait. You will practise graded assertiveness scripts, learn when to escalate and to whom, and study what leaders do that makes a team safe to speak in. WHO reports that only 25% of countries actively foster a safety culture; this course gives individuals and team leads something concrete to work with in the meantime.

2. Why this program

• Speaking up treated as a skill, not a trait.
• Scripts you can use verbatim under pressure.
• Covers both sides. raising and receiving concerns
• Grounded in what actually stops people speaking.

3. Who it is for

Nurse · Physician · Pharmacist · Allied Health · Student · Healthcare Manager

4. Program objectives

• Explain why competent professionals stay silent about visible risks
• Describe psychological safety and its measurable effect on teams
• Apply graded assertiveness to escalate a concern
• Identify the correct escalation route when a concern is not heard
• Respond to a concern raised by a junior colleague without defensiveness
• Recognise leader behaviours that suppress or invite speaking up

5. Learning outcomes

• Apply a graded assertiveness script to a described clinical concern
• Identify the appropriate escalation step when a first attempt is dismissed
• Differentiate psychological safety from politeness or comfort
• Demonstrate a non-defensive response to a challenge from a junior colleague
• Evaluate a team scenario for the presence of speaking-up barriers
• Recommend two leader behaviours that would improve safety voice on a unit

6. Curriculum

1. Module 1: Why People Stay Silent

   • Why People Stay Silent

2. Module 2: Psychological Safety

   • Psychological Safety

3. Module 3: Graded Assertiveness

   • Graded Assertiveness

4. Module 4: When You Are Not Heard

   • When You Are Not Heard

5. Module 5: Receiving a Concern

   • Receiving a Concern

7. Duration and structure

Total study hours: 2 — 1.5h content + 0.5h assessment. Duration is expressed in study hours only.

9. What you receive

This certificate confirms completion of Speaking Up for Safety: Psychological Safety and Escalation. Duration is expressed in study hours.

10. Delivery format

Self-paced · start any time · any device · lifetime access to the enrolled version.