Heart of Safety Coalition
Looking back on 2025: A year of milestones and momentum
12.30.2025
by Liz Boehm
Executive Strategist, Human-Centered Research
In early 2025, the Heart of Safety Coalition published a research report that outlines what it truly means for care team members to feel safe and be safe at work. Hundreds of healthcare leaders and bedside team members shared their perspectives, affirming that the three pillars of care team safety, outlined in our Declaration of Principles, still ring as true today as they did in 2021 when they were first penned. Psychological and emotional safety, dignity and inclusion, and physical safety are all required to support a thriving workforce.
Together, with our growing community of healthcare leaders, learners and advocates, we worked throughout the year to make the language of the three pillars ubiquitous across conversations and innovations that impact care team safety and wellbeing. We aim to put to rest the idea that care team member wellbeing is a “nice-to-have,” or that care team safety is secondary to patient safety. Patient safety starts with care team safety.
The intersection of care team and patient experience radiated across TV screens this year in the hit medical drama, The Pitt. I was honored to feature one of the show’s physician consultants and writers, Mel Herbert, MD, FACEP, for our 100th Caring Greatly podcast episode in July. Watching The Pitt reinforced the importance of, and need for, the work our Coalition members are doing to advance the three pillars of care team safety. The Pitt’s human-centered stories and heart-hitting visuals show the hard truths care team members face hour by hour - whether it’s resource constraints, moral dilemmas, unimaginable losses or workplace violence. The show reveals the weight of responsibilities physicians, nurses and other team members carry and the toll it can take on their psychological, emotional and physical safety as well as their sense of belonging. It also showcases the incredible humanity healthcare workers bring to each other and to their patients. I look forward to watching season two, which I hope will highlight some solutions to these issues.
I’m happy to say that many solutions to improve care team safety and wellbeing gained momentum this year, and none more so than the work to remove barriers to access mental health care championed by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and its ALL IN Wellbeing First for Healthcare Coalition. I was honored to collaborate with the Foundation’s CMO Stefanie Simmons, MD, FACEP, and fellow members of the ALL IN Coalition to publish our report on the perceived structural, institutional and cultural barriers that limit clinicians’ access to mental health care. Our research was the first to compare responses across physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians’ assistants on this topic, and it’s fueling conversations across the country about how we can remove those barriers to help get clinicians the support they need and deserve.
I want to thank Stef, Corey Feist, JD, MBA, and the Foundation team and ALL IN Coalition members for their amazing work and continued collaboration this year and beyond. I also want to thank…
- All the amazing Caring Greatly podcast guests who generously share their insights about how to support care team safety and wellbeing
- All the leaders who are implementing Code Lavender® programs in a way that matches their unique cultures and resources
- All the fellow speakers and attendees at industry events and conferences who took time for conversations about ways to shift cultures, improve processes, advance resources and improve care team safety
- The dedicated Heart of Safety Advisory Council members who guide my work and connect me with incredibly smart and caring experts across the three pillars
- And all the care team members who cared for me, my friends, family, colleagues and loved ones this year. Your skills, passion and compassion are my constant inspiration
I’m so grateful for all that 2025 has brought, even in the face of challenges. There’s still much more work to do, but there are so many amazing people putting their talents behind meaningful improvement efforts. Together, we can drive real change. I hope you’ll join us – sign up for a first look at our reports, podcast episodes and other resources. It’s all free, because all care team members deserve to be safe at work.
More blog posts
Disclaimers: Some resources provided in this blog post may contain links to external websites or third-party content. We do not endorse, control or assume any responsibility for the accuracy, relevance, legality or quality of the information found on these external sites. Stryker or its affiliated entities own, use or have applied for the following trademarks or service marks: Code Lavender, Caring Greatly and Stryker. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners or holders.