The experiences of disruptive behaviors in medical staff and students: a qualitative study in Iranian health care centers

BACKGROUND: Disruptive behavior is a permanent and unprofessional pattern of inappropriate behavior disrupting the workplace and safe patient care that negatively impacts employees and patients. There are limited studies on the causes and effects of such behaviors in Iran’s medical centers. The present study aims to explore the perceived experiences of medical center employees and students about disruptive behaviors. METHODS: In this qualitative descriptive study, 29 personnel and students in the treatment departments of five medical education centers were investigated using a purposive sampling method with maximum diversity in 2023. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews until reaching data saturation and analyzed with a conventional qualitative content analysis approach. In this approach, systematic coding and categorization were used to interpret textual data. RESULTS: Most of the participants were female (80%), nurses (36.7%), had a master’s degree (36.7%), a bachelor’s degree (33.3%) and a work experience between 6 and 10 years (40%). 40% of the participants were employees in clinical departments, 33.3% were clinical faculty members, and 13.3% were managers and students. The main theme of data analysis was the destructiveness of disruptive behaviors. This main theme has six themes including deviations from norms, agents of disruption, targets of disruption, underlying causes, and consequences of disruptive behavior in addition to mitigation strategies, and several subthemes. CONCLUSIONS: This study advances understanding of disruptive behaviors in Iranian healthcare by showing that they stem from interacting organizational and social processes. Using organizational behavior and social learning theories, it identifies prioritized, context‑specific mitigation strategies centered on leadership reform, organizational policies, and training.