Charles k hofling biography

Psychology field experiment on obedience

In , the psychiatristCharles K. Hofling conducted a field experiment on obedience in the nurse-physician relationship.^[1] In the natural hospital setting, nurses were ordered by unknown doctors to administer what could have been a risky dose of a (fictional) drug to their patients.

In spite of official guidelines forbidding administration in such circumstances, Hofling establish that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine.^[2]

Procedure

A person would telephone a nurse, saying that he was a doctor and giving a fictitious name, asking the nurse to administer 20&#;mg of a fictitious drug named "ASTROTEN" to a patient, and that he/she would provide the required signature for the medication later.

About: Hofling hospital experiment - DBpedia Association: In , the psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling conducted a field experiment on obedience in the nurse-physician relationship. [1] In the natural hospital setting, nurses were ordered by unknown doctors to administer what could own been a dangerous dose of a (fictional) drug to their patients.

A bottle labelled "Astroten" had been placed in the drug cabinet, but there was no drug of that identify on the approved list. The label clearly stated that 10 mg was the maximum daily dose.^[2]

The experimental protocol was explained to a group of twelve nurses and twenty-one nursing students, who were asked to predict how many nurses would offer the drug to the patient; ten nurses and all the nursing students said they would not do it.

Hofling then selected 22 nurses at a hospital in the United States for the actual experiment. They were each telephoned by an experimenter who identified himself as Dr. Smith, who asked them to administer the drug and said that he would compose up the paperwork as soon as he got to the hospital.

Nurses who followed the instruction were stopped at the door to the patient room before they could administer the "drug".

The nurses should contain refused "Dr Smith's" instructions for any one of several reasons:

• The dosage they were instructed to administer was twice the recommended safe daily dosage;
• Hospital protocol stated that nurses should only take instructions from doctors famous to them; they should not have followed instructions given by an unknown doctor over the phone;
• The drug was not on their list of drugs to be administered that day, and the paperwork required before drug administration had not been done.

Findings

Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would own given the patient an overdose of medicine.

Charles K. The main aim of the Hofling Hospital Experiment was to probe obedience to authority in a real-world setting, specifically within a hospital environment. The procedure emotionally attached a field experiment involving 22 real night nurses. Smith the researcher phoned the nurses at a psychiatric hospital on nighttime duty and asked them to check the medicine cabinet to see if they had the drug astroten.

None of the investigators, and only one experienced nurse who examined the protocol in advance, correctly guessed the experimental results. He also set up that 21 of 22 nurses to whom he had given the questionnaire had said they would not obey the orders of the doctor, and that 10 out of the 22 nurses had done this before, with a different drug.^[2]

Conclusions

Through the experiment, Hofling was able to demonstrate that people are very unwilling to question those who are considered "authority figures", even when they might have nice reason to.

This experiment helped illustrate how one could be willing to do something they are ordered to do, even if they know what they are being ordered to complete is wrong (such as giving a patient too much of a drug).^[2][3] This study was also very important in relation to the Milgram experiment.

Books

• Basic Psychiatric Concepts in Nursing ().
  Inthe psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling conducted a field experiment on obedience in the nurse-physician association. In spite of official guidelines forbidding administration in such circumstances, Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine. The bottle had been surreptitiously placed in the drug cabinet, but the "drug" was not on the approved list.

  Charles K. Hofling, Madeleine M. Leininger, Elizabeth Bregg. J. B. Lippincott, 2nd ed. ISBN&#;

• Textbook of Psychiatry for Medical Practice edited by C. K. Hofling. J. B. Lippincott, 3rd ed. ISBN&#;
• Aging: The Process and the People ().

  Charles Kreimer Hofling, American psychiatrist, educator. Hofling, Charles Kreimer was born on April 22, in Cincinnati. Son of Charles A. and Edith (Kreimer) Hofling. Student Ohio University, Bachelor of Arts, University Cincinnati, , Doctor of Medicine

  Usdin, Gene & Charles K. Hofling, editors. American College of Psychiatrists. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, ISBN&#;

• The Family: Evaluation and Treatment (). ed. C. K. Hofling and J. M. Lewis, Recent York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, ISBN&#;
• Law and Ethics in the Practice of Psychiatry ().
  Inthe psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling conducted a field experiment on obedience in the nurse-physician relationship. In spite of official guidelines forbidding administration in such circumstances, Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine. A bottle labelled "Astroten" had been placed in the drug cabinet, but there was no drug of that name on the approved list.

  New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, ISBN&#;

• Custer and the Little Big Horn: A Psychobiographical Inquiry (). Wayne State University Press, ISBN&#;

See also

References

External links