Episode 280: Create a Culture of Safety: Learning Culture

“As nurses and healthcare providers, we need to be up to date with the most current evidence-based practices. To achieve and maintain this, we must institute a learning culture. It is critical to promote a learning culture and healthcare institution to keep both patients and nurses safe,” Klara Culmone, MSN, RN, OCN®, assistant nurse manager at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health in New York, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a discussion about what oncology nurses should know about creating a learning culture in the workplace for nurses at all levels, from staff to managers and administrators.

You can earn free NCPD contact hours after listening to this episode and completing the evaluation linked below.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.5 NCPD contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD), which may be applied to the professional practice/performance ILNA category, by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by October 6, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to creating a culture of learning and safety.

Episode Notes

·       Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.

• Oncology Nursing Podcast:
  • Episode 246: Create a Culture of Safety: Fair and Just Culture
  • Episode 266: Create a Culture of Safety: Reporting Culture 
  • Episode 231: Nurses Thrive in a Healthy Work Culture
• ONS Voice culture of safety topic tag
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Vaught’s Single Story and Health Care’s Culture of Safety
• ONS professional development resources
• ONS On-Demand™
• The Joint Commission’s 11 Tenets of a Safety Culture

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

 

Highlights From Today’s Episode

“There are a few ways to demonstrate to nurses that a healthcare organization values and promotes a learning culture. So, for example, allowing the time off to attend relevant conferences including covering costs such as transportation, registration, et cetera, as we know that these costs can really go up quickly.” TS 2:20

“Allowing time off the unit with the adequate coverage is really critical, and I think that’s a challenge that many of us face right now. So, staffing may not always allow for it, but trying to have a plan set in advance can really help ease this challenge. So, some things that we have implemented to minimize staffing impact on the unit would include, perhaps, paying the nurse to attend the class on a day outside of their scheduled shift, so this is especially helpful for remote learning.” TS 5:48

“Nurse leaders are really critical in the development of a positive learning environment. Nurse leaders should conduct the learning needs assessment within their team and then tailor the educational plan based off of the results. And this really, ideally, should be done in collaboration with their nursing professional development specialists. It’s important for nurses to share new knowledge with one another.” TS 7:59

“One of the best ways for nursing schools and facilities to collaborate is by hosting student clinical groups. Having nursing students work with nurses allows the nurse to share their knowledge with the future of the nursing workforce. They are teaching a new generation of nurses. I mean, many of us remember the best clinical experiences during our training. And it is always the preceptor nurse who spent the most time teaching and answering our questions that gave us the motivation and drive to continue learning.” TS 10:39

“I would just really encourage all of our fellow nurses to just be open to new learning, open to new ideas, and willing to teach one another, because I think we really do the best when we build one another up, we listen to each other, and we learn from one another.” TS 19:20