Is disruptive behavior inherent to the surgeon or the environment? Analysis of 314 events at a single academic medical center.
Disruptive behavior is a recognized threat to patient safety. In this study at a single academic medical center, the investigators sought to characterize the root causes of disruptive behavior by comparing the perspectives of the person reporting the incident and the involved persons (often a surgeon). The most common contributing factors to disruptive behavior included the stress of the clinical situation and unclear hospital policies, implying that both individual and system-level interventions may be helpful in preventing these behaviors.