Home Meeting Planner Resources New Policy Aims to Deter Surgeons from Behaving Badly

New Policy Aims to Deter Surgeons from Behaving Badly

March 14, 2025

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons aims to rein in disrespectful behavior at its meetings with a new Policy for Respectful Scholarly Discourse.

When the Society of Thoracic Surgeons held its annual meeting in January, moderators found a new policy on the podium. That’s when STS publicly released its Policy for Respectful Scholarly Discourse, a policy adopted last August. The policy, which is similar to an initiative called Members’ Guide to Disruptive Behavior that was launched by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) with its last fall, is designed to foster a respectful, inclusive and unbiased environment at its meetings and events.

Not surprisingly, given the high-pressure, high-stress, multiple-specialty environment they work in, surgeons are more likely to be reported for unprofessional behavior compared to non-surgical medical professionals, according to a recent study of more than 35,000 physicians published in JAMA Network Open. Most of that disrespectful behavior is expressed verbally, according to the study — such as calling a coworker a “bossy cow” for reminding the surgeon to follow proper protocols.

While a professional association meeting is not quite the pressure cooker environment that the surgical suite can be, those bad behaviors can cross over, according to an article in Medscape. Also, while women are still a small proportion of the cardiothoracic surgical faculty of the STS meeting — 17% — that is up from just 2% at the turn of the century. Black and Hispanic physicians also are a small (3% and 5%, respectively), but growing percentage of the profession.

Unconscious biases that were hidden now are becoming more apparent as the profession diversifies, leading to disrespectful behaviors such as interruptions. According to the Medscape article, women were more likely than men to be interrupted and addressed by an inappropriate title at previous STS meetings.

“The best way to mitigate those disparities is to hold everyone to the same high standard of professionalism,” Mara Antonoff, MD, a thoracic surgeon at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who led the STS’s policy working group, told Medscape.

STS’s new policy includes examples of disruptive behaviors, which can include everything from verbal abuse and intimidation to microaggressions and gaslighting.

Other key elements of the policy include:

Encouraging attendees to use appropriate titles such as “Dr.” for individuals with doctorates and “Mr.” or “Ms.” for others. It also encourages the use of inclusive, gender-neutral and patient-respectful language in presentations. These two aspects were included to help make the environment a more welcoming one for the increasingly diverse cardiothoracic surgery community.
Encouraging more active participation from those who may have previously felt intimidated or marginalized, such as younger members and underrepresented groups.
Outlining expectations for professional conduct, discouraging bullying, offensive language and other disruptive behaviors.

The idea is to set out ground rules that will foster a more collaborative and respective environment for learning, as well as provide mechanisms to handle instances of unprofessional behavior.

While the jury is still out on how the new policy will change behavior, initial responses to the policy have been mostly positive, especially among the younger members. the STS plans to formally evaluate its implementation in future meetings, ensuring that improvements in behavior are sustained and reinforced over time