Reviewing strategies to address unprofessional behaviours among healthcare staff

This project aims to improve understanding of unprofessional behaviours in healthcare settings and how these can be best managed and mitigated.

The unprofessional behaviours of healthcare staff towards each other are known to be widespread. In poor workplace cultures such behaviours can be considered ‘normal’.

Yet they significantly affect an individual’s ability to work without fear and speak up to those in authority when things are not right. Such behaviours affect patient safety, staff experience and well-being and impact the organisations safety culture.

This study builds on previous research by the team and others by focusing on unprofessional behaviours between staff groups in acute care settings (hospitals). These behaviours include rudeness, overstepping boundaries, verbal aggression, sexual and racial harassment and bullying.

Current strategies to address unprofessional behaviours often focus on individuals and do not take an organisational approach. They also often focus on only one type of unprofessional behaviour. Managers and others in positions capable of implementing change do not always know what to do and which strategies are best to use with which staff groups to address specific types of behaviours. This review will provide that information.

Project aims

The aim of the project is to improve understanding of how, why and in what circumstances staff unprofessional behaviours can be best reduced, managed and prevented. Specifically to understand:

(any differences and similarities between terms referring to unprofessional behaviours and how these terms are used by different professional groups
the circumstances (contexts) of unprofessional behaviours
how strategies to reduce unprofessional behaviours might work (mechanisms) and lead to behaviour change
the outcomes of unprofessional behaviours on staff, patients and the wider healthcare system.

We will also produce recommendations and practical resources that managers can use to prevent, manage and reduce unprofessional behaviours. We will build on these research findings to develop a follow-on intervention study to evaluate whether these strategies work when they are put into practice.