Nurse Managing Conflict

When dealing with different personalities, levels of education, and cultures, there are bound to be clashes of thought processes. As nursing leaders, we need to be able to realize that it exists and how to resolve it through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation. “Conflict is a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests, or concerns” (Johansen, 2012). If the conflict is between the physician and direct care nurse or the nurse manager and direct care nurse, this can eventually affect patient care or create a toxic work environment. Nurses tend to avoid conflict. “One explanation is that in situations such as nurse-physician interaction, the avoidance conflict management style may be used

Negotiation is common in the healthcare field. We as nurse leaders are negotiating with other leaders on different policies and procedures in the safety and care of the patient. The policies of the hospital must align with Centers of Medicare and Medicaid and Joint Commission. Contracts with vendors for supplies are negotiated to the lowest terms possible. Mediation has a neutral person who trust, facilitate and is not involved in the dispute. The three types of mediation are facilitative, evaluative and transformative. The last way to manage a dispute is through arbitration. Arbitration is when negotiation and mediation will not work. If a party cannot be trusted or is dishonest through negotiations or mediations, then arbitration is the next answer. This is the step before litigation. An attorney is present at a hearing with written pieces of evidence. The arbitrator is a decision maker as that of a judge. Examples of alternative dispute resolution are arbitration and mediation. These are ways to resolve disputes without involving the public court