July 20, 2022
“From a place of personal accountability and commitment to system improvement, RaDonda Vaught’s conduct in the aftermath of this tragic event has been exemplary. She told what she knew, as soon as she knew it, to any stakeholder, for any purpose in hopes that understanding her actions, state of mind, priorities, omissions, and flaws could help her patient or any other. Much of what we have learned comes from the painful, candid narrative of RaDonda Vaught, at no small consequence to herself. She is the nurse the patient safety community has longed for, indeed has spent two-and-half decades nurturing.
She should not go to jail.”
Barbara L. Olson is a nurse and senior advisor, The Just Culture Company. She supports health care clients in planning and sustaining Just Culture as a system of workplace justice and can be reached on Twitter @safetynurse.
