In the 1920s, a series of experiments were conducted at Hawthorne Works, a Western Electric telephone factory just outside Chicago, to study the effects of lighting on worker productivity. The researchers found that improved lighting increased manufacturing output – but only until the study ended, when productivity reverted to its previous level, even though the new lighting persisted. The researchers concluded that it was the act of being studied, not the lighting, that made workers increase their productivity.
When Clinicians Know They’re Being Watched, Patients Fare Better
In a recent study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers uncovered a unique form of the Hawthorne effect in hospitals, with important consequences for patients. They obtained Joint Commission inspection dates for 1,984 U.S. hospitals during 2008-2012, and matched those dates to hospitalization data for more than 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries. They compared the outcomes of patients admitted to the hospital during an inspection week against patients admitted to the same hospital in the weeks immediately preceding or following the inspection. They found that Medicare patients who were admitted to the hospital during a Joint Commission visit had slightly lower mortality than patients admitted during our non-inspection weeks — especially in large teaching hospitals.