This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA

Malathi Srinivasan, MD

JAMA. 1999;282:814.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As physicians, we have all seen disrespectful and antagonistic behavior exhibited by colleagues. Egregious unprofessional behavior, like exemplary behavior, is almost always apparent to patients, colleagues, and other observers. I can remember long call nights when I spoke about patients in disparaging ways or became provoked and did not uphold my personal standards. During those moments, my behavior fell short of the professional standards I had pledged to uphold.

I am not alone in my lapses. In one institution, approximately 20% of anesthesia residents were cited for unprofessional behavior by their attending physicians during rotation evaluations.¹ Other studies have demonstrated that these behaviors occur up to once an hour,² and that when they do occur, they are often ignored.³

We can change the learning climate to reinforce professional behaviors, such as respect, compassion, altruism, accountability, service, and life-long learning. Research has demonstrated that behavioral patterns can be . . . [Full Text of this Article]

National Research Service Award Fellow
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis