The Negative Impact of Nurse-Physician Disruptive Behavior on Patient Safety

OBJECTIVE: To review what is known about the impact of nurse-physician disruptive behavior on patient safety to inform appropriate intervention programs to address this health care problem. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature using the key words "disruptive physician behavior" and "physician verbal abuse" was conducted. RESULTS: Ten articles were reviewed. All were descriptive in nature and used a nonexperimental approach to measure the incidence of disruptive behavior and/or verbal abuse in various health care settings via self-report surveys. All studies confirmed the alarming prevalence of disruptive behavior. CONCLUSIONS: A standard definition of "disruptive behavior" is needed, as is a valid and reliable measure of the phenomenon before interventions to address the problem can be developed.