Rudeness at work can lead to mistakes

Beware of rude behaviour from your colleagues as it could lead to mistakes at work, a study says.

Study author Rhona Flin believes that the link between rudeness and mistakes is of particular concern in hospitals, where it can pose a threat to a patient’s safety and quality of care.

Research suggests that in confined areas such as operating theatres, even watching rudeness between colleagues might impair team members’ thinking skills.

Flin, professor of applied psychology at the University of Aberdeen in Britain, warned: “In surgical environments, all staff require high levels of attention and memory for task execution…

“If incivility does occur in operating theatres, the risks for surgical patients – whose treatment depends on particularly high levels of mental concentration and flawless task execution – could increase,” Flin said.

In a survey of 391 Britain’s National Health Service operating theatre staff that lasted six months, 66 percent of respondents said they had “received aggressive behaviour” from nurses and 53 percent from surgeons, a University of Aberdeen release said.

The report was published in this week’s British Medical Journal.

Flin concludes: “People concerned with patient safety should note that civility between workers may have more benefits than just a harmonious atmosphere.”