While Kellie Lease Stecher, MD, was working as an ob.gyn. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a patient confided in her a sexual assault allegation about one of Stecher’s male colleagues. Stecher shared the allegation with her supervisor, who told Stecher not to file a report and chose not to address the issue with the patient. Stecher weighed how to do the right thing: Should she speak up? What were the ethical and legal implications of speaking up vs staying silent?
After seeking advice from her mentors, Stecher felt it was her moral and legal duty to report the allegation to the Minnesota Medical Board. Once she did, her supervisor chastised her repeatedly for reporting the allegation. Stecher soon found herself in a hostile work environment where she was regularly singled out and silenced by her supervisor and colleagues.
“I got to a point where I felt like I couldn’t say anything at any meetings without somehow being targeted after the meeting. There was an individual who was even allowed to fat-shame me with no consequences,” Stecher said. “[Being bullied at work is] a struggle because you have no voice, you have no opportunities, and there’s someone who is intentionally making your life uncomfortable.”
Stecher’s experience is not unusual. Mistreatment is a common issue among healthcare workers, ranging from rudeness to bullying and harassment and permeating every level and specialty of the medical profession. A 2019 research review estimated that 26.3% of healthcare workers had experienced bullying and found bullying in healthcare to be associated with mental health problems such as burnout and depression, physical health problems such as insomnia and headaches, and physicians taking more sick leave.
The Medscape Physician Workplace Culture Report 2024 found similarly bleak results:
- 38% said workplace culture is declining.
- 70% don’t see a big commitment from employers for positive culture.
- 48% said staff isn’t committed to positive culture.
The irony, of course, is that most physicians enter the field to care for people. As individuals go from medical school to residency and on with the rest of their careers, they often experience a rude awakening.
It’s Everywhere
Noticing the prevalence of workplace bullying in the medical field, endocrinologist Farah Khan, MD, at UW Medicine in Seattle, Washington, decided to conduct a survey on the issue.
Khan collected 122 responses from colleagues, friends, and acquaintances in the field. When asked if they had ever been bullied in medicine, 68% of respondents said yes. But here’s the fascinating part: She tried to pinpoint one particular area or source of toxicity in the progression of a physician’s career — and couldn’t because it existed at all levels.
More than one third of respondents said their worst bullying experiences occurred in residency, while 30% said mistreatment was worst in medical school, and 24% indicated their worst experience had occurred once they became an attending.
The litany of experiences included being belittled, excluded, yelled at, criticized, shamed, unfairly blamed, threatened, sexually harassed, subjected to bigotry and slurs, and humiliated.
“What surprised me the most was how widespread this problem is and the many different layers of healthcare it permeates through, from operating room staff to medical students to hospital HR to residents and attendings,” Khan said of her findings.