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ventions can make a difference in misbehaving docs who haven't been
confronted in as long as 20 years.
You'll likely get pushback or might hesitate when faced with disci-
plining a high-volume, revenue-generating surgeon. You might not want
to lose his moneymaking cases, but can you afford not to take action?
Think of the costs to your facility in terms of malpractice risk, reputa-
tion and staff turnover.
You must have a fair disciplinary process that's applied equitably to
everyone. Why is that so important? There's a liability to the organiza-
tion in treating people differently. If you address one person's bad
behavior, but dismiss another's just because he generates revenue,
you're putting yourself at further legal liability. In addition, business
literature shows that when a single person on a team has a behavior
that undermines that team's ability to achieve its goals, people lose
trust in the organization, they perform poorly at their assigned tasks
or they leave.
Now think about the OR: The circulating nurse is getting materials
together for a case, the anesthetist is drawing up medications, the patient
is in the room and the scrub nurse is getting instruments lined up. When
a surgeon brings peace to the room, everyone goes about their business,
waits for the case to start and readies for the time out. But a surgeon
who screams and threatens keeps the surgical team on edge. They're
more worried about getting their heads bitten off than paying attention
to the task at hand. Risk for error increases.
Correcting problem behavior helps the offender regain his career and
helps the organization as a whole. When you consider the ripple effect
on the experience patients have when they're cared for by the surgeon
and his team, the widespread benefit of stopping problematic behavior
is profound.
