Good morning, Supervisor!
I am writing to you about the interprofessional team’s conflict that has arisen because of two members providing patient counsel contrary to the agreed upon plan of care.
I propose several steps for solving the problem at the micro, meso, and macro-level. Firstly, we need to talk to the employees engaged in conflict and find out the reason for their decision before punishing them. As Marshall and Broome (2017) point out, if a leader does not carry the best interests of those he or she represents, that is not true leadership. For this reason, I believe that it is necessary to find out the reasons for the behavior of employees and find out whether their violation is a consequence of a flaw in the system.
The next step at the organizational level is to review and change the policies or practices of the interdisciplinary team if a problem is discovered. In this way, we will be able to apply the approach and science of caring and show that all team members are valuable and improve the future interprofessional team interaction and cooperation (Watson, 2018; Chism, 2019). Otherwise, simply punishing the team members and prohibiting counseling contrary to the plan can devaluate employees’ work and experience and discourage their initiatives. Thus, reviewing and identifying shortcomings in the policies, protocols, or practices of interdisciplinary teams can lead to improved interaction and patient care.
Moreover, if the results are effective at the organizational level, the next step is to conduct research at the macro level. The findings can be used to develop an adapted approach to managing an interprofessional team. Such scientific publications can contribute to management approaches in healthcare.
I ask you to consider my proposal and hold a conversation with employees engaged in the conflicting situation.
Best regards,
References
Chism, L. A. (2019). The doctor of nursing practice: A guidebook for role development and professional issues (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett.
Marshall, E. S. & Broome, M.E. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Watson, J., Porter-O’Grady, T., Horton-Deutsch, S., & Malloch, K. (2018). Quantum caring leadership: Integrating quantum leadership with caring science. Nursing Science Quarterly, 31(3), 253-258.