Measuring and managing the economic impact of disruptive behaviors in the hospital.

Disruptive behaviors have been shown to have a significant negative impact on staff relationships, team collaboration, communication flow, and patient outcomes of care. They can be a major factor in contributing to the occurrence of adverse events that compromise quality care and patient safety and can put the patient and organization at increased risk. Whereas organizations generally are not reticent to make system enhancements designed to improve patient safety, they are more reluctant to address human factor issues such as disruptive behaviors for a variety of reasons. This article presents a 10-step process for addressing both the economic and quality impact of disruptive behaviors in an attempt to stimulate a call to action.