Report: Physician bullying prevalent in the workplace

Fifty-six percent of physicians have experienced or seen other physicians behaving inappropriately, according to a new report by Medscape. More than 2,000 physicians were surveyed about the types of inappropriate behavior they had seen by physicians within the past five years. They reported it most often occurred in the workplace (35%), followed by outside the workplace or on social media (26% each).

In the workplace, the most prevalent bad behavior was bullying or harassing clinicians/staff (80%), making fun of or disparaging remarks of patients behind their backs (79%), and using racist language (54%).

Outside the workplace, respondents reported most often seeing physicians making fun of or disparaging remarks of patients behind their backs (68%), being inebriated in public (58%), and using racist language (45%).

The most common inappropriate behavior by physicians seen online were making inappropriate comments about themselves, friends, and politics (80%); posting inappropriate photos of themselves (39%); and posting inappropriate comments about patients (31%).

Source: Medscape