Prefer audio? Listen & subscribe on
ou can’t build a true culture of patient safety without psychological safety.
In this episode, Dr. Renee Thompson sits down with Dr. Stephanie Stovall, Chief Quality Officer at OSF HealthCare, to unpack the very real link between workplace culture and clinical outcomes. Stephanie explains why fear of being “picked apart” or punished makes people less likely to speak up. That silence puts patients at risk. She shares a pivotal early-career story about a medication decision, and how strong feedback, paired with a follow-up conversation, can protect patients and build confidence instead of shame. They also dig into what it looks like when safety becomes “as automatic as getting dressed,” why anonymous reporting can signal low psychological safety, and how real-time debriefs shift teams from blame to collaborative problem-solving.
Tune in to hear practical ways leaders can build trust, strengthen speaking-up behaviors, and make Safety everyone’s job, every day.
About Dr. Stephanie Stovall:
Dr. Stephanie Stovall is the Chief Quality Officer at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Illinois, where she leads enterprise efforts to strengthen quality, safety, and high-reliability care. Before OSF, she spent more than a decade at Lee Health in Fort Myers, serving as Chief Quality and Safety Officer while also practicing as a pediatric infectious diseases physician for over 13 years. Her leadership experience also includes key roles at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, including interim Chief Quality and Patient Safety and Medical Director positions focused on pediatric epidemiology, infectious diseases, and quality and safety.
A clinician by training and a safety leader by calling, Dr. Stovall is passionate about the link between how teams treat each other and how safely care is delivered. She emphasizes that psychological safety is the foundation for a true culture of patient safety, because people are far more likely to speak up and prevent harm when they feel safe to do so. She earned an MS in Healthcare Quality and Safety from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed pediatric infectious diseases fellowship training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Email us to have your leadership question featured in an upcoming Q&A episode.
A leading authority on creating healthy work cultures by eliminating bullying and incivility in healthcare, with 31+ years of clinical and executive experience. One of only 30 nurses worldwide to earn the Certified Speaking Professional designation.
Never miss a Coffee Break. New episodes every week.
