Workplace conflict indeed hurts and reduces the quality of care in healthcare just as this negative phenomenon of the human factor is destructive in any other modern industry. Cullati et al. (2019) state that it most often results in “failure to provide timely, patient-centered, and efficient care” (p. 43). Clients receive only suboptimal care, including delayed screening and diagnosis, wrong prescriptions, and ineffective treatment procedures.
During my time as a nursing specialist, the most common forms of workplace conflict that I was directly involved in were those between nurses. For example, there was a shortage of nurses at the hospital where I was employed, so our small nursing team had to overwork. Consequently, each of us experienced significant work overload for several months. One day I heard a rather loud quarrel between my colleagues and decided to intervene to resolve the conflict peacefully and productively. I quickly became a party to this quarrel as they started blaming me. Since I had some theoretical knowledge of conflict management techniques, I applied what can be called the collaborating technique. According to experts, it is “cooperating with the other party to understand their concerns … to find a mutually and completely satisfactory solution” (5 conflict management strategies, n.d., para. 3). I was able to calm others and myself, and then we peacefully exchanged grievances, concerns, and opinions and developed a consensus.
I have also witnessed several verbal confrontations between the management of health facility departments and their subordinates. I acted as a negotiator and an advocate in some of the ones to prevent nurses from leaving and burning out emotionally. There I used the method of compromising both to protect the interests of my colleagues and to satisfy the managers. The compromising method allows you to develop a consensus for disputing groups via tradeoffs (5 conflict management strategies, n.d.). As far as I remember, most of these interventions were successful.
References
Cullati, S., Bochatay, N., Maître, F., Laroche, T., Muller-Juge, V., Blondon, K. S., Perron, N. J., Bajwa, N. M., Vu, N. V., Kim S., Savoldelli, G. L., Hudelson, P., Chopard, P., & Nendaz, M. R. (2019). When team conflicts threaten the quality of care: a study of health care professionals’ experiences and perceptions. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 3(1), 43-51.
5 conflict management strategies nurses might use. (n.d.). Walden University. Web.