Restoring professionalism: the physician fitness-for-duty evaluation.

Objectives: We compare findings from 10 years of experience evaluating physicians referred for fitness-to-practice assessment to determine whether those referred for disruptive behavior are more or less likely to be declared fit for duty than those referred for mental health, substance abuse or sexual misconduct.

Method: Deidentified data from 381 physicians evaluated by the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Assessment Program (2001-2012) were analyzed and compared to general physician population data and also to previous reports of physician psychiatric diagnosis found by MEDLINE search.

Results: Compared to the physicians referred for disruptive behavior (37.

Transformative learning in a professional development course aimed at addressing disruptive physician behavior: a composite case study.

Disruptive physician behavior presents a challenge to the academic medical center. Such behaviors threaten the learning environment through increasing staff conflict, role modeling poor behaviors to trainees, and, ultimately, posing a risk to patient safety. Given that these physicians are often respected and valued for their clinical skills, many institutions struggle with how to best manage their behaviors.

Problematic physicians: a comparison of personality profiles by offence type.

Objective: This exploratory study compares objective personality test findings among physicians exhibiting different forms of misconduct. The importance of delineating distinctive personality characteristics by type of offence is that such characterizations can direct therapy and prognosis for remediation.

Method: Eighty-eight physicians referred to the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Assessment Program for Professionals (V-CAP) completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, the Personality Assessment Inventory, or both, as part of their evaluation.