Susan E. Mazer, Ph.D. Blog

Thoughts and ideas on healthcare

Hi, and welcome to my blog! I'm Susan E. Mazer -- a knowledge expert and thought leader on how the environment of care impacts the patient experience. Topics I write about include safety, satisfaction, hospital noise, nursing, care at the bedside, and much more.

Nurse Burnout and the Patient Experience: The COVID Crush

October 1, 2021

Pat Linton, the founding CEO of North Hawaii Community Hospital, categorically stated that “The only difference between the patient and the caregiver is acuity.” What does that mean? Well, it

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Patient Safety: Now and Always

March 5, 2021

To a patient, safety is an assumption. The idea that they are unsafe when they are sick enough to even go to an emergency room or be admitted to a

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COVID-19: When Fear Is a Risk Factor and the News, a Pathogen

March 12, 2020

Global, natural, and man-made disasters have become a painfully common occurrence. In the last two years, the world has faced hurricanes and earthquakes, mass shootings, terrorists driving trucks into crowds,

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The Patient At Risk: Ever Hear of Germ Theory Denialism?

January 19, 2018

I had never heard of Germ Theory Denialism, either. When Louis Pasteur theorized that “germs” caused disease in the 19th century, he and Florence Nightingale had a rigorous debate. The

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Patient Safety: The Tale of the Lost COW

April 28, 2017

Hospital corridors, by design, are wide. They have to accommodate people, wheelchairs, gurneys, computers, meal carts, and all sorts of other things. They just have to be wide. The risk

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Why is Patient Safety in Its Own Bucket?

March 17, 2017

I have always wondered why patient safety is talked about by itself. As if all other procedures, policies, and practices are not about safety. And why should patient safety be

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How Are Patient Safety and the Patient Experience Related?

December 2, 2016

I am confused. How can patients have good experiences if they do not feel safe? And, how is patient safety evidenced beyond the accidents that do not happen? Safety precautions

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Encore Post: “Do No Harm” is Not Enough Anymore for Patient Safety

October 28, 2016

Note: This is a popular post from 2014 that is still relevant to the critical issue of patient safety. Florence Nightingale was not only the Mother of Modern Nursing; she also was the

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When What We Believe and Practice is Outdated

July 15, 2016

Through the history of science, beliefs have been disproven by empirical evidence and still, whole societies have refused to be influenced by new information. In fact, science was once considered

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To Follow or Not: The Rules About Patient Safety

June 17, 2016

For the very first time ever, I was called for jury duty last week in the 2nd District Court in Washoe County, Nevada. I tried to think of some great

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