Eyes on incivility in surgical teams: Teamwork, well-being, and an intervention

Description

Cheri Ostroff, Chelsea Benincasa, Belinda Rae, Douglas Fahlbusch, and Nicholas Wallwork study rudeness in surgery theaters in this two thousand twenty-three paper. Incivility in surgery is common and harms work and well-being. At a small private orthopedic hospital, staff filled in surveys on incivility, teamwork, and well-being three months apart. Between surveys, a simple intervention appeared: signage with eyes in the theater area, meant to evoke being watched.

At the person level, incivility related to poorer team dynamics, which in turn related to burnout, stress, and job views among seventy-four staff. At the group level, reported incivility dropped clearly after the eye signs went up. Open-ended answers pointed at management behavior, thanks, communication, and work habits as deeper issues. The authors conclude incivility harms staff through team strain, and that low-cost being-watched cues can reduce it, at least in the short term.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10688855