Consider the healthcare workplace and identify two specific sources of conflict. Next, compare two strategies for successful resolution of workplace conflict and/or bullying.

Peers Response to question above..

Peer 1: Ashley O’Connor posted 

Two specific sources of conflict are: managing multiple tasks with a short amount of allotted time, and varying demands and expectations from different individuals. Crawford et al. (2019) explain that conflict contributes to negative workplace outcomes in academic, organizational, work unit and personal outcomes and can effect students, new grads, experienced, and academic faculty nurses. Varying viewpoints of how to resolve an issue can often be the source of workplace conflict, as different people have different ways of resolving the same situation. One or both individuals may demand or expect that their approach is utilized over another’s approach, which creates conflict.

Two approaches to mitigate workplace conflict and/or bullying are founded on evidence-based strategies promoted by the American Nurses Association.

It can be from the top down, management to staff. One journal article said that impartial discipline was a correct action to mitigating workplace bullying (Awko, 2018). The discipline would end in diminishing workplace bullying. Of course all events of workplace bullying have to be taken in discretion by the manager to deem whether or not the event was true workplace bullying, but the next step would be to discipline the person perpetrating the workplace incivility/bullying. The article does not describe how the employee would be disciplined, but that hopefully the discipline would lead to a) an end to the disruptive behavior, and b) lead to improvement in the employee’s behavior.

The second strategy would be “going to the source and managing conflict quickly” (Moreland & Aprker, 2015, para 42). When tackling conflict it is important to use respectful communication styles in every situation. Effective communication styles in managing conflict situations include: active listening, offering thoughtful questions, and planning what you intend to say when offering a resolution to the conflict.

References

Akwo, E. (2018). From the top down: How leadership can diminish workplace bullying: JEN JEN. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 44(2), 109. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1016/j.jen.2017.12.009

Crawford, C., Chu, F., Judson, L., Cuenca, E., Jadalla, A., Tze-Polo, L., Garvida, R. (2019). An integrative review of nurse-to-nurse incivility, hostility, and workplace violence: A GPS for nurse leaders. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 138. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000338

Moreland, J. & Apker, J. (2015, Nov 15). Conflict and stress in hospital nursing: improving communicative responses to enduring professional challenges. Health Communication. 31(7),(815-823). doi:https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/10410236.2015.1007548

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Peer 2:

Christine Auclair posted

Ethical conflict occurs when opposite opinions regarding morals and values takes place. “As a serious occupational problem and stressor, ethical conflict can significantly affect nurses’ physical and mental health, professional performance, social relationships, organizational commitment, and patient advocacy role and may result in moral distress, job dissatisfaction, job burnout, absence from work, and high turnover rate.” (Saberi, Shahriari & Yazdannik, 2019 p. 2428) An example of this is a nurse and doctor dont seem to see eye to eye on decision making for a patient. An example is someone who may be in critical care and is requiring vasopressors and mechanical ventilation to stay alive, but in reality may have no quality of life. Another example is if a patient is able to make medical decisions, but is deemed incompetent. A few weeks back I had a patient who was not the most cooperative and did not follow doctors orders very well because in her eyes she didn’t want to. The patient was alert and oriented with bouts of confusion, but was mostly just noncompliant. The patient was seen by physical therapy and was encouraged to go to rehabilitation because she had come in with falls and was uncooperative with VNA services. The patient had a psych consult placed and was deemed “incompetent” by the doctor. This brought up a lot of issues with the nurses considering we were the ones taking care of her and although she never made the best decisions, she was still able to make proper decisions for herself. In my eyes, if someone is not willing to follow doctors orders that does not mean that they are incomepentent, but some people will always refuse to do what others want them to do even if it’s not the best option.  In the end, there was a solution where both the physician, patient and family was in agreeance with that let the patient go home safely. Issues with ethical decisions would lead to multiple people getting involved with the situation. An ethics meeting within the hospital is a solution to solve ethical problems.

Another conflict experienced within the nursing field is lack of communication. There has been multiple issues within my work experienced caused by poor communication. The one thing as a nurse I always try to do is make sure that I understand what is being told to me, and make sure that I am explaining myself as thoroughly as possible to someone. Majority of the time what happens is that communication is not passed on to the correct party. An example of this is rounding with the doctors at the hospital. Majority of the time the doctors come so early in the morning that you have barely even seen any of your patients. While rounding doctors can decide if a patient is ready to be discharged home or not, but as the nurse there are so many other things that need to be done before actually making sure this person gets discharged safely. Throughout the day I communicate with my doctor accordingly. Most nurses may feel that it is annoying to doctors, but it seems that majority of the doctors appreciate an input on what is going on with the patient especially if they have not been discharged yet. Strategies to improve communication is to always clarify what you are hearing, saying, and making sure that everyone who is taking care of the patient is on the same page including: the physician, patient, family members, case manager, consulting providers, etc. 

Saberi, Z., Shahriari, M., & Yazdannik, A. R. (2019). The relationship between ethical conflict and nurses’ personal and organisational characteristics. Nursing Ethics, 26(7/8), 2427–2437. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/0969733018791350