Communication skills training to address disruptive physician behavior

Area of Science:

• Healthcare communication
• Nursing education
• Patient safety

Background:

• Disruptive behavior in healthcare settings negatively impacts patient outcomes.
• High-stress environments like the perioperative setting are prone to such behaviors.
• Addressing disruptive physician behavior is crucial for patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, implement, and evaluate a communication skills intervention.
• To enhance perioperative nurses' self-efficacy in managing disruptive physician behavior.
• To improve patient safety by mitigating the effects of disruptive behavior.

Main Methods:

• A two-day communication skills program based on Crucial Conversations principles.
• Intervention delivered by a certified trainer to 17 perioperative nurses.
• Paired t-test analysis to assess changes in self-efficacy scores.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant increase in self-efficacy scores immediately post-intervention and at four weeks.
• Participants reported addressing disruptive physician behavior 71% of the time at four weeks.
• Demonstrated improvement in nurses' confidence and ability to manage disruptive behavior.

Conclusions:

• Educational interventions in communication skills can effectively increase nurses' self-efficacy.
• Empowering nurses with communication strategies is a viable approach to address disruptive physician behavior.
• Improving nurse self-efficacy in handling disruptive behavior contributes to enhanced patient safety in perioperative settings.