The disruptive physician and impact on the culture of safety

Abstract

Purpose of reviewThe disruptive physician is a growing problem in medicine. All too often, physician behavior negatively impacts the delivery of quality patient care. The hostile environment that certain behaviors create makes it difficult for team members advocate for their patients. It is imperative that physician practices develop and an understanding of how to identify the disruptive physician to maintain patient safety. Recent findingsDisruptive physicians can damage team morale by creating a psychologically unsafe working environment. Healthcare organizations must be committed to ensuring that all team members can function effectively in their work environments. The leaders of healthcare organizations must be acutely aware of what constitutes disruptive behavior and act proactively to eliminate such behaviors. Disruptive physicians should be made acutely aware that their behavior is deemed unacceptable and efforts at correcting such behavior are imperative.

A Novel Framework for Routine Versus Critical Communication in Surgical Education—Don't Take It Personally

“…The behavior among these individuals, which some have characterized as disruptive physicians, can confound the ability of a learner to adapt and perform in their new environment, regardless of their familiarity with critical communication. 21…”

“…The behavior among these individuals, which some have characterized as disruptive physicians, can confound the ability of a learner to adapt and perform in their new environment, regardless of their familiarity with critical communication. 21 On the flip side, critical communication can fail if a learner interprets the critical communication as being personal because they were not familiar with the tone or body language that can be associated with critical communication. Under these circumstances, resident learners may shut down and ruminate about the event rather than resetting and performing the remainder of the case.…”

Human factors affecting intraoperative patient safety

“…The reasons why a physician exhibits disruptive behaviour are complex and multifactorial. This behaviour is often triggered by a combination of personal issues and individual circumstances, together with external factors within the workplace environment and culture [36 ▪ ,37 ▪ ].…”