Can you imagine a physician calling you a “moron” before throwing his clipboard — or, God forbid, his scalpel — across the room?
Unbelievably, if you’re a nurse or technician or other similar underling, that may sometimes happen to you, according to a report by AIS Health.com.
These so-called “disruptive doctors” are as bad as 2-year-olds throwing tantrums. According to AIS managing editor Nina Youngstrom:
Disruptive physicians are the kind who make life miserable for the people with whom they work — their health care team — with belittling remarks (e.g., “Are you a moron?”), sarcasm (e.g., “It’s hard to believe you even have a nursing degree!”), yelling and screaming when things don’t go their way and throwing things around the room.
Unfortunately, this kind of behavior is having far-reaching consequences in this day and age of quality and safety reporting, and enhanced government oversight of hospitals. The stakes are higher for accreditation and hospitals are now being encouraged — and even given tools — to help these disruptive docs change their behavior.
We wish them luck.
One Comment
No kidding! I have many friends in the health system and the physician stories are seemingly unbelievable! Part of the “god” syndrome? Probably. It’s a cultural problem, I think; that we allow such disrespect towards these other professionals challenges the definition of treating patients/co-workers with human dignity and respect.