A Proposed Approach to Allegations of Sexual Boundary Violation in Health Care

Abstract

Background: Sexual boundary violations in the health care setting cause harm for victims, threaten an organization's culture, and create extraordinary organizational risk. The inherent complexities of health care organizations present unique challenges for the initial triage and response to reports of alleged violations.

Methods: A group of experts with experience in law, leadership, human resources, medicine, and health care operations identified processes for organizations to triage and implement an early response to allegations of sexual boundary violations. The group reviewed a series of 100 reports of alleged violations described by patients and coworkers from a 200-hospital professional accountability collaborative to identify the elements of an ideal initial triage and management approach.

Results: The group identified three domains to guide early triage and response to reports of boundary violations: (1) severity and acuity of the alleged violation; (2) roles and relationship(s) of the complainant, respondent, and other affected individuals; and (3) contextual information such as prior activity or other mitigating factors. The group identified leadership engagement; coordinated responses; clear articulation of values, policies, and procedures; aligned data reporting; thoughtful reviews; and securing appropriate resources as essential elements of an organization's response.

Conclusion: A structured systematic approach to classify and respond to allegations of sexual boundary violation is described. The initial response should be guided by assessment of the severity and timing of the reported behavior, followed by assessment of roles and responsibilities with involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Contextual issues and special circumstances of relevance should be identified and incorporated into the response. Systems to identify, store, and retrieve behavior of concern should be improved and integrated.