Co-worker unprofessional behaviour and patient safety risks: an analysis of co-worker reports across eight Australian hospitals (10 April 2024)

Summary

Online reporting tools are a key component of professional accountability programmes as they allow hospital staff to report co-worker unprofessional behaviour. Ethos is a whole-of-hospital professional accountability programme that includes an online messaging system, which has now been implemented across multiple Australian hospitals. This study examined reported unprofessional behaviour that staff indicated created a risk to patient safety. It included 1310 Ethos submissions reporting co-worker unprofessional behaviour between 2017 and 2020 across eight Australian hospitals.

The findings indicate that unprofessional behaviour was associated with risks to patient safety. Co-worker reports about unprofessional behaviour have significant value as they can be used by organisations to better understand how unprofessional behaviour can disrupt work practices and lead to risks to patient safety.