Sentinel Event Alert #40

Prevent behaviors that undermine a culture of safety

Health care is a high-stakes, pressure-packed environment that can test the limits of civility in the workplace. This Sentinel Event Alert issued by The Joint Commission warns that rude language and hostile behavior among health care professionals goes beyond being unpleasant and poses a serious threat to patient safety and the overall quality of care.

Joint Commission Resources has the following tools to help educate your organization on this very important topic.

Publication

Defusing Disruptive Behavior: A Workbook for Health Care Leaders

A Valuable Resource to Help Avoid Behavior-Related Sentinel Events

While job satisfaction is an important issue for all workers, the risk that disruptive behavior may put on patients has been well documented by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which found that intimidation and undue pressure altered how staff do their jobs.

This spiral-bound workbook helps leaders train all staff in effective strategies for ending disruptive behaviors that adversely affect staff morale and possibly put patients at risk. This practical workbook: 

 

• Provides a Code of Conduct (including samples)
• Profiles how disruptive behavior reaches the patient and impairs safety
• Advocates a strong policy statement and getting senior leader buy-in
• Explains the reporting process and follow-up
• Offers education and peer counseling, not punishment
• Provides a checklist of how to identify disruptive behavior
• Includes case studies of how health care providers manage disruptive behavior

 

Listen-on-Demand Audio Conferences

Disruptive Physician Behavior

The Joint Commission requires that all hospitals have a process in place to identify and assist staff physicians with health and behavior problems. This audio conference focuses on physician disruptive behavior and one education based approach for modifying their behavior. The session will briefly cover current knowledge regarding definition, etiology, prevalence of disruptive behavior and some attention to developing an infrastructure for addressing unprofessional behavior within institutions. Using a case study scenario, William Swiggart, MS, LPC/MHSP, Training Director, Center for Professional Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, addresses the components of a medical education course aimed at teaching skills around more acceptable and effective physician behavior, and the follow-up data obtained from course participants as well as lessons learned from the past two years.

 

Articles

Building a Concrete Culture for Handling Disruptive Behavior

Civility in the Health Care Workplace: Strategies for Eliminating Disruptive Behavior

Creating a Fair and Just Culture: One Institution's Path Toward Organizational Change

Read The Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert #40 regarding behaviors that undermine a culture of safety.