Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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1 4 6 O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 quickly become a question of dollars vs. ethics. It's a tough spot, but you can relieve the problem by having a firm, clear written policy on how to handle these instances. This policy should have a step-by-step procedure on how you treat disruptive surgeons and employees that includes handing out warnings, mandatory counseling and, finally, ter- mination or revocation of privileges. Empower staff to speak up You may have a misbehaving doc in your facility right now — but if your staff isn't empowered to speak up, you may never know. Make sure you and all facility leadership sets a tone that encourages and welcomes employees to speak out if they feel someone is acting inappropriately. If an employee does come to you with a complaint about a physi- cian, make sure you thoroughly investigate, hear both sides and don't automatically chastise the staff member for "tattling" on a high-vol- ume doc. You should instead instill a sense of ownership in your staff. In the example above, if a staff member had seen and voiced con- cerns about the insulting doctor before this case, the whole thing could have been prevented. Take a step back and cool off In one of the recorded insults, the anesthesiologist talks about how she's fed up with all of her "annoying" patients. How she handled her feelings may have been completely wrong, but it does bring up a good point about what can happen when providers feel burnt out or frustrated. Staff and surgeons deal with a large number of patients every day — some of whom may be hard to please or frustrating to work with. Stress to staff and surgeons that if they feel themselves losing their 3 4 M E D I C A L M A L P R A C T I C E