Incivility and Clinical Performance, Teamwork, and Emotions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Healthcare performance
• Medical teamwork
• Patient safety

Background:

• Incivility is prevalent in healthcare environments.
• Anecdotal reports suggest negative impacts on patient care.
• Robust evidence linking incivility to clinical errors is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of incivility exposure on clinical performance.
• To assess the impact on teamwork and emotional states.
• To provide empirical evidence on incivility in healthcare.

Main Methods:

• Randomized controlled trial design.
• Nurses assigned to control or incivility-exposed groups.
• Assessment of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance, teamwork, affect, and cognition using a manikin simulation.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in CPR, cognitive, or teamwork scores, or emotional state between groups.
• A significant increase in major CPR errors (66%) in the incivility-exposed group.
• Control group demonstrated no major CPR errors.

Conclusions:

• Findings support anecdotal evidence linking incivility to clinical errors.
• Exposure to incivility may compromise patient safety through performance deficits.
• Further research is needed to understand mechanisms and interventions.