The neonatal intensive care unit is a place full of tiny, vulnerable and critically ill infants; fearful and anxious parents; and busy doctors and nurses working to save lives. But if a parent of a sick baby says something rude to the medical staff, the quality of care might suffer, a new Israeli study suggests.
“We weren't looking at angry parents, we were looking at rude parents,” said Dr. Peter Bamberger, a study co-author and the associate dean for research at Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University. The study used the kind of simulated crisis scenarios that are commonly performed to help medical staff practice, using actor “parents” and a realistic plastic baby “patient.” And the rude “mother” in the study said, loud enough for the staff to hear: “I knew we should have gone to a better hospital where they don't practice Third World medicine.”
