Rude behavior, unpleasant language, hostile attitudes, and other bad behaviors not only create an unpleasant environment, but are detrimental to patient safety and quality of care, according to The Joint Commission's most recent Sentinel Event Alert targeting disruptive behavior by healthcare providers. This alert ties into new Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) standards going into effect January 1, 2009, which will require healthcare organizations to create a code of conduct defining acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, as well as crafting a process for handling poor behavior.