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Interventions help with disruptive MDs

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, November 26, 2006

"Disruptive" physician behavior-any behavior that is inappropriate, impulsive, hostile, or difficult to manage-can be detrimental to the collegiality of an entire medical staff. It can also result in turnover among mid-level providers and decrease work quality and efficiency for all parties affected.

If a hospitalist in your program repeatedly demonstrates such behavior, an intervention is one way to cope with the problem.

First, consider the primary goals of your intervention as being (1) to inform the hospitalist about his or her disruptive behavior, (2) to get him or her to take responsibility for the disruptive behavior, and (3) to get from the hospitalist a plan of action so that the problematic behavior will cease.

Because of the gravity of the subject and the awkwardness created by it, an intervention should not last more than 20 minutes. To plan for an effective, fair intervention, consider the following:

• when it will take place
• where it will take place
• how long it will last
• its goals
• what the physician's likely responses will be, and how you will react to them

Editor's note: The above is excerpted from the online course, "Disruptive Physician Behavior: Techniques for Managing and Preventing." For more information on this and other courses in our library, go to http://www.hcprofessor.com/.

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