There has been a proliferation of posted behavior signs over the last five years. They are now ubiquitous in both inpatient and outpatient settings and across pediatric, adult, and allied health practices. Named as notices for "Patients and Visitors," these signs identify a range of conduct, from clinical noncompliance, use of profanity, and raised voices to acts or threats of physical violence. While these signs may offer a tangible signal from institutional leadership to staff that disruptive behavior is unacceptable, there is no empirical evidence that they are effective in reducing workplace violence or verbal attacks. Aside from the problem of efficacy, I argue that posted behavior signs are ethically troubling for the way they treat patients and families and for the impact they can have on them. I identify four distinct ethical concerns with these signs, which I believe require either their removal or their substantial modification.
Learning Objectives: After this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Identify four ethical concerns with posted behavior signs.
- Analyze the workplace violence literature to assess the efficacy of post behavior signs.
- Apply alternative approaches to sign messaging with the potential to de-escalate rather than inflame conflict.
Speaker(s)
Autumn Fiester, PhD, is Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Fiester is the Faculty Program Director for the Master of Bioethics (MBE) and Master of Science in Medical Ethics (MSME) degrees. She is the Director of the Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management, which promotes conflict resolution training for clinical providers and clinical ethics consultants. Dr. Fiester conducts workshops in conflict management throughout the US and abroad. She has served in the role of Academic Conflict Management Consultant in the School of Arts and Sciences, working with academic units on strategic vision, improved communication, mediation, and organizational development. Dr. Fiester has been a member of several international bioethics initiatives including projects in Tanzania, the EU, the UAE, Singapore, and Japan. She is author of over 125 publications in the areas of clinical ethics, clinical conflict management, LGBT bioethics, and medical ethics education. She has been the invited guest editor for multiple special theme issues in leading bioethics journals including, Journal of Clinical Ethics, HEC Forum, Journal of Narrative Inquiry, Journal of Medical Humanities and the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. Dr. Fiester is the recipient of the University of Pennsylvania's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.