The Joint Commission, the most important accredited healthcare organization nationwide, released a bulletin on Wednesday, warning that impolite, hostile and disruptive behavior among employees in the field of health care would not be accepted anymore.

The agency orders hospitals are to take measures to sort out the problem because patient safety is jeopardized. By next year, health-care-related organizations accredited by The Joint Commission must have a set of rules regarding behavior of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, support staff and administrators. The code of behavior will be designed to define “acceptable and unacceptable behaviors and to establish a formal process for managing unacceptable behavior," said the Oakbrook Terrace association in a declaration.

Hospitals not having such a code would be at high risk of losing their accreditation. Citing statistics from the “institute for Safe Medication Practices” The Joint Commission said that many cases of such inappropriate conduct go unreported. It has been revealed that 40 percent of hospital staff has covered up their colleagues when witnessing bad behavior, instead of holding the culprit responsible.

Starting 2009, The Joint Commission will enlarge the list of factors related to behavior that could trigger to so-called sentinel events. Rude language and hostile manners will be considered to possibly cause serious errors or even death. Consequently, they ought to be recounted to the commission.