The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has published new recommendations to help organizations correct and prevent disrespectful behaviors. Results from the latest survey on disrespectful behaviors, summarized in part one of a two-part series in the ISMP Medication Safety Alert!® Acute Care newsletter, revealed that it continues to be a serious issue in healthcare that impacts safety. Part two appears in the March 10, 2022, issue and outlines specific steps that can be taken to address this ongoing problem.
“Creating a healthier workplace where disrespectful behaviors are discouraged requires organizations to act on many fronts,” says Rita K. Jew, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPPS, FASHP, ISMP President. “Transformational culture change, modeling of good behaviors, educating staff, and including behavior in annual performance evaluations are all steps in the right direction.”
Ignoring disrespectful behaviors in healthcare normalizes them; ISMP urges organizations to take steps to actively prevent and correct violations of their code of conduct. Highlights of ISMP’s recommendations include:
Setting the Stage
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Commission a mixed-composition steering committee that includes a wide range of ranks and disciplines, dedicated to fostering respectful behaviors.
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Prohibit retaliation against individuals reporting disrespectful behaviors by establishing specific policy at the onset of organizational efforts to create a more respectful workplace.
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Survey staff anonymously to assess how workplace culture and disrespectful behaviors may have impacted them, their patients, and the organization. Use data gathered from complaints, unscheduled employee absences, and exit interviews to identify problems and monitor progress.
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Establish a standard communication strategy for staff to convey important information to colleagues, incorporating available techniques to ensure assertive, productive exchanges.
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Create an escalation policy to manage conflicts about the safety of an order when the standard communication process fails to resolve an issue.
Prevention
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Establish a code of conduct or professionalism that declares the organization’s intolerance of disrespectful behaviors and serves as a model for interdisciplinary collegial relationships and collaboration.
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Provide mandatory hospital-wide awareness-raising education annually for all staff about disrespectful behaviors and the problems they create.
Accountability
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Create a confidential reporting program for disrespectful behaviors to gather reports by staff who have experienced or witnessed behaviors, or by a trade union representative on behalf of a staff member.
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Investigate all reports as soon as they are received in a way that is fair and sensitive to the targets of the behaviors, witnesses, and the accused offender(s).
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Implement interventions to address disrespectful behaviors after they have been investigated and upheld, making sure that the organizational response is prompt, predictable, and appropriate.
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Make needed system changes. Common system problems that promote disrespectful behaviors include staffing shortages, excessive workloads, power imbalances, subpar management training, inequities in resource allocation, communication breakdowns, physical hazards, and environmental stressors.
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Develop a surveillance system that measures staff compliance with the code of conduct, and ensure that any disrespectful behaviors previously addressed have actually stopped.
Support
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Establish a support system for those experiencing, witnessing, or being accused of disrespectful behaviors. Involved staff should be encouraged to access available resources, including employee assistance programs, dignity advocates, or cultural ambassadors.
For a copy of the ISMP newsletter article with recommendations, which also includes links to additional resources, visit: https://www.ismp.org/resources/addressing-disrespectful-behaviors-and-creating-respectful-healthy-workplace-part-ii.
For a summary of results from the latest ISMP survey on disrespectful behavior, visit: https://www.ismp.org/resources/survey-suggests-disrespectful-behaviors-persist-healthcare-practitioners-speak-yet-again.