Every nurse leader's career includes dealing with difficult personality traits. A thoughtful and consistent approach, as with many aspects of leadership, can make all the difference. This article offers advice on how to deal with social relationships effectively. People are present in both the highs and lows of leadership. Working in a team is the most rewarding aspect of our jobs, as well as the most difficult and draining. Every nurse leader's career includes dealing with tough personalities. A thoughtful and consistent approach, as with many aspects of leadership, can make all the difference... Disrespectful and disruptive behavior can jeopardize patient safety, boost absenteeism and turnover, and diminish job satisfaction (Olson, 2017). The following is a reflection of some of the nursing workplace conflict that I encountered and how I managed to solve.
Conflict between Me and Junior Nurses
One of the workplace conflict that I have encountered is between me and junior nurse who are still working through their certificate level. It is often expected that as a senior nurse, I should be in a position to efficiently run a health institution and be able to organize, communicate and understand the challenges that junior nurses may face. The main source of conflict is the way they perceived the level of power that was bestowed on my as a senior nurse. For example I was required to organize their shift schedules, be the first line of consultation in the event that they had a challenging patient and to provide internship report to the required authorities. The way that I was able to deal with the conflict regarding how they perceived my authority, given that some of them would be rebellious when I gave them simple orders, I began involving them in decision making. In this they felt appreciated and that they were as part of the team. I also strategically gave them more power and responsibilities as a way of appreciating their hard work. For example, I allowed them to organize their shifts schedules but bring them to me for approval and review. I would also talk to them regarding the ward that they would be comfortable working in, while I also encouraged them to experience different environments.
Conflict between me and Patients
The other common conflict that I have experienced is the one between me and difficult patients. This is a common conflict for most nurses and at times this has also led to a legal battle. The situation happened when I was faced with an emotionally distressed patient and highly religious family members that could allow the patient to be dressed by a nurse who is not from their culture and religion. During this time I was working as a junior nurse and such an experience can be intimidating. I however, appreciated that each patient has their distinct behavior and habits, meaning that as a nurse one needs to know ways to handle patients with tense emotions and anger. At the same time the patient was tense and required me to provide them with the reassurance that they would be alright. What I did was to collaborate with the patient and the patient’s family in taking them through the procedure. I also called on the ward physician to explain to the patient the reason for constant dressing since the patient had undergone surgery and only an experienced nurse would be allowed to do so. I also used good communication skills to direct the patient and assure him and the family that I was there to served is best interest, for which he later agreed and the procedure would go on to the time he was discharged.
Based on the above scenarios, anyone who faces interpersonal conflict in nursing has a variety of options on how to handle it. In my experiences, the following modes of conflict resolution have always worked.