HFMA VIEWS

Jeni Williams
Senior Editor, HFMA

Disruptive behavior between surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists occurs frequently in hospital operating rooms—and it can hurt patient outcomes, according to a study by VHA Inc.

Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents said disruptive behavior needlessly contributes to impaired quality of care, while 67 percent linked disruptive behavior to adverse events and medical errors, according to a VHA release. Respondents also linked disruptive behavior with compromises in patient safety (58 percent) and patient mortality (28 percent). Nearly half of respondents said they were aware of an event that could have occurred because of disruptive behavior, and 19 percent said they knew of an adverse event that occurred as a direct result of disruptive behavior.

Those surveyed also expressed concern over the frequency of disruptive behaviors, the VHA says. Twenty-two percent of attending surgeons and 12 percent of anesthesiologists say they have witnessed disruptive behavior, ranging from verbal abuse to physical and sexual harassment, in other physicians on a weekly basis. Twenty-one percent of nurses have witnessed disruptive behavior in other nurses on a weekly basis.

The study described disruptive behavior as any inappropriate behavior, confrontation, or conflict, ranging from verbal abuse to physical and sexual harassment.