On this episode of the CMAJ Podcast, Dr. Eve Purdy makes it clear what’s at stake when it comes to incivility in medicine. "It's very simple. Incivility kills patients, and that needs to be the single line of every healthcare leader responsible for managing and leading teams.” Dr. Purdy joins Dr. Sarah Kim and hosts, Drs. Blair Bigham and Mojola Omole, for an urgent panel discussion that looks into the deep-seated reasons behind incivility in medical settings.
Dr. Eve Purdy is an emergency medicine physician and applied anthropologist at Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service in Australia. She focuses on helping healthcare teams perform at their best. Dr. Sarah Kim is a family physician and an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She's also the Medical Education Health Humanities Lead at Temerty Faculty of Medicine, where she researches the intersection of high performance and hierarchical systems.
Together, they explore the structural failures, embedded cultures, and the detrimental role "a few bad actors" can have on the effectiveness of entire teams. The conversation underscores the importance of prioritizing healthy communication practices, cultivating respect within healthcare teams, and the essential role leadership needs to play in combating incivility to safeguard patient care.
The episode begins with a conversation with Dr. Armand Aalamanian, a family physician and executive director at the Canadian Medical Protective Association. He is a co-author of the article in CMAJ titled, "Five things to know about…Physician incivility in the health care workplace.” Dr. Aalamanian reviews the evidence of the pervasive nature of incivility in health care, its detrimental effects on professional relationships, and its direct correlation to patient outcomes. The discussion not only highlights the problem but also proposes actionable solutions, emphasizing, once again, the role of leadership in fostering a culture of civility.
This episode is structured to arm medical professionals with both an understanding of the causes of incivility and the skills to combat it.
For more information from our sponsor, go to md.ca/EC2024
Join us as we explore medical solutions that address the urgent need to change healthcare. Reach out to us about this or any episode you hear. Or tell us about something you'd like to hear on the leading Canadian medical podcast.
You can find Blair and Mojola on X @BlairBigham and @Drmojolaomole
X (in English): @CMAJ
X (en français): @JAMC
Facebook
Instagram: @CMAJ.ca
The CMAJ Podcast is produced by PodCraft Productions
Responding to rising measles cases in Canada
Constructive conversations on CanMEDS revisions
Navigating the complex relationship between palliative care and MAiD
Diagnosis and treatment of anorexia nervosa in adolescent males
Diagnosing rare and common infections in returning travellers
Building patient trust in health care
Opioid poisonings: shortfalls in treatment and new threats
Exclusion of people with disabilities in medicine
More than just novel obesity treatments
ASA: a simple, effective and underused treatment for preeclampsia
ENCORE: Smartphones, social media and poor mental health
Pharmacogenomic testing: billion-dollar savings in depression treatment
The rapid evolution and enhanced capabilities of virtual urgent care
Recommendations on SARS-CoV-2, influenza and RSV vaccinations
New guidelines for alcohol use disorder
Promoting health equity in primary care
Tick-borne illnesses: an evolving health concern
EDs in crisis: causes and solutions
Smartphones, social media and poor mental health
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good Mood Revolution
Good Nurse Bad Nurse
The Relaxback UK Show
On Call With Dr. Anselm Anyoha
The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman, M.D.
The Peter Attia Drive