By Steven Reames, Executive Director, Ada County Medical Society
When I heard the term “disruptive physician” for the first time, I imagined it was something akin to a kid in a classroom who had lost their self-control, was throwing a temper tantrum, and who caused other students, teachers, or staff to feel unsafe. Those pictures certainly fit the worst-case scenarios of physicians whose emotional intelligence and self-regulation have taken a leave of absence: surgeons who throw scalpels at interns or nurses, doctors who blow up if their authority is questioned or threatened, a physician who dresses down a co-worker in front of others.