Astroten Experiment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The so-called Astroten Experiment , known in English-language literature as the Hofling (hospital) experiment or Hofling study , is a field experiment by a research group led by psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling . It deals with the relationship between doctors and nurses and is one of the classic experiments on deviant behavior in organizations.

Experimental setup

22 nurses were called by a fictional doctor ("Dr. Smith") to check whether the drug "Astroten" (a placebo) was in the medicine cabinet. According to the label, the maximum dose of the drug is 10 mg. ,, Dr. Smith '' asked the nurses to give 20 mg of the drug to a patient. He would submit the signature required for the award later. It was observed how the nurses behave. If you were to administer the drug, you would be breaking three hospital rules: 1. Accepting instructions over the phone. 2. To give an overdose; and 3. To give an unapproved drug. 95% of the nurses followed Dr. Smith, breaking the rules of the hospital.

As a control group, 22 trainees were asked how they would behave in the situation. 21 said they would not obey the instruction. Here it became clear that there is a large discrepancy between self-assessment and factual behavior.

interpretation

The authors conclude that the nurses are more likely to follow doctors' instructions than their own judgment, as they attribute a higher level of professional competence to them. Interpreted in terms of organizational theory, the experiment shows that in hospitals the hierarchical communication channels dominate the programs so much that the formal programs are willingly deviated from even without knowledge of the specific person . There seems to be an organizational culture in the hospital in which deviations from formal programs due to hierarchical instructions from a doctor are the norm.

reception

The experiment is one of the classic field experiments in organizations. Similar to the Milgram experiment , it was shown that there is a large difference between people's self-assessment of their presumed behavior and the actual behavior of test persons.

literature

  • Charles K. Hofling et al: An Experimental Study of Nurse physician Relations. In: Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 143, 1966, pp. 171-180.
  • Annamarie Krackow, Thomas Blass: When Nurses Obey or Defy Inappropriate Physician Orders. Attributional Differences. In: Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. 10: 585-594 (1995).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ z. BB Deichmann, Chr. Ryffel: Sociology in everyday life: an introduction. Juventa Verlag, 2008, p. 179.
  2. ^ Annamarie Krackow, Thomas Blass: When Nurses Obey or Defy Inappropriate Physician Orders. Attributional Differences. In: Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. 10: 585-594 (1995).
  3. ^ Stefan Kühl : Organizations. A very brief introduction. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013, p. 78ff.
  4. ^ Stanley Milgram: The Milgram Experiment. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2009, p. 237.