engleski

Save a life, be civil: Why being pleasant and polite matters for your patients

INTRODUCTION: Although civility and politeness in the workplace are mainstays of modern cultural and societal norms, the healthcare system sometimes seems to be an exception to the rule. In an extremely dynamic, high-stakes environment that most hospitals are, emotions often run high and incivility occurs. However, is civility in medicine simply a matter of following societal norms or does it affect patient outcomes and physicians’ performance in a more significant way? This review aims to find out. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases were searched using the terms “ci- vility”, “medicine” and “performance”. Clinical studies and surveys pertaining to this abstract’s topic were included. RESULTS: The available literature shows that incivility has a significant impact on clinician performance in medici- ne. A randomized trial showed that in simulated intensive care unit (ICU) scenarios, participants exposed to rudeness performed 12% worse. Another trial showed that anesthesiologists who experienced incivility by surgeons performed 30% worse. In a survey of incivility in Australian hospitals, out of more than 5000 participants, 40% experienced incivility, rudeness or bullying by their colleagues at least once a week. CONCLUSION: Incivility in medicine is not only experienced by a large proportion of hospital staff, but it also significantly negatively impacts both physician and non-physician staff performance in high- intensity situations like operation crises and acute events in the ICU. We should all strive to be as civil and polite to our colleagues as possi- ble, first and foremost for our patients’ sake.

incivility ; intensive care unit ; operating room

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