Encourage reporting of disruptive physician behavior

Your organization must take steps when addressing disruptive physician behavior. You must dedicate time and resources to explain to physicians—especially those manifesting the disruptive behaviors—that your hospital will no longer tolerate disruptive behavior.

The starting point for eliminating disruptive physician behavior is defining the behavior in a policy. You can begin by stating the goal of your policy in a positive manner. It is important that your policy define with some specificity what constitutes disruptive behavior and the behaviors that violate your policy. Do not be overly specific though; it could limit you. Instead, include a description of how a physician’s behavior can disrupt the operations of the organization.

It is also important to create a reporting system that respects and protects staff members who disclose improper conduct. The reluctance of individuals to report deviations from the conduct policy poses a significant challenge to obtaining data, and it is often fear of consequences that lead to such reluctance. Hospital staff also may be reluctant to report improper conduct for fear of retaliation. To avoid this, some hospitals allow anonymous reporting through complaint forms and incident reports. But keep in mind that although this approach may protect workers, it also creates potential for abuse of the reporting system.