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(Originally published by FierceHealthcare)

In a recent blog post, I implored healthcare leadership who make decisions that affect staff and patients to listen to those working on the front lines of healthcare.

Despite the dangers of not supporting front-line staff, many healthcare leaders continue to make decisions without their input.

For example, one community hospital in Portland, Maine, left front-line staff out of the equation as administration financially squeezed the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department, to the point where nurse staffing levels on the maternity ward fell below national standards.

"Administration ignored staff when issues of quality of care were raised. Mothers did not get training on breastfeeding, bathing baby, what to do if baby doesn't sleep, what kind of rashes to look for, or what does baby look like when baby is sick," the interim chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology told me.