ACPE Survey Finds Disruptive Behaviors By Healthcare Employees Persist After Crackdown

A survey of 13,000 physician and nurse executives, conducted by the American College of Physician Executives, found that most healthcare organizations still experience disruptive behaviors by medical professionals even one year after a zero-tolerance policy was required by The Joint Commission, according to a report in American Medical News.

The Joint Commission required healthcare facilities to implement policies that define intimidating and disruptive behaviors and to establish disciplinary actions for medical staff and healthcare professionals who violate the policies, according to the report.

According to the survey, 97 percent of respondents witnessed an unprofessional outburst or overreaction several times a year or weekly, and 48 percent found physicians and nurses equally at fault. However, 45 percent said that physicians were mostly to blame, according to the report.

Making degrading comments, yelling and refusing to work together were at the top of the list of complaints, according to the report. Fewer respondent indicated incidences of sexual harassment or physical abuse.

Disruptive behavior can affect patient care, and the survey found that physicians were often treated more leniently than nurses when disciplined for their actions. According to the report, nurses were more frequently fired for bad behavior.

One concern of The Joint Commission standards is that physicians may be punished under the policies for raising legitimate quality concerns. However, officials said that the ACPE survey highlighted behaviors that went beyond constructive criticism that could inhibit others and lead to poor patient care, according to the report.

Read the AMNews report about disruptive physician behaviors.