In the scenario, Sue was clearly upset, which may negatively affect her ability to provide effective patient care as she may become short-tempered and unable to listen to her patients’ concerns and needs. Additionally, this conflict may impede Sue and Mary’s ability to collaborate as a team in the future. Finkelman (2016) outlines three steps for conflict management. The first step is to decrease or eliminate the conflict (p. 327). If Sue feels that the issue has not been resolved after the medication pass, she should ideally attempt to sit down with Mary and work towards a resolution. However, if this approach is not feasible, she could have a private conversation with her charge nurse or supervisor to discuss her concerns. By focusing on meeting the patients’ needs and providing patient-centered care, Sue would be modeling Finkelman’s (2016) second step for conflict resolution. Ideally, the supervisor would involve Mary in the discussion, thoroughly evaluate the conflict, and work towards meeting the third step of resolution, which is to ensure that all parties can work together productively, as outlined by Finkelman (2016).
Conflict Resolution and Collaboration with Nurse Leader
This nurse could play a role in resolving the conflict by collaborating with the supervisor. Basogul & Ozgur (2016) suggest that conflict resolution can involve five strategies: integrating, dominating, avoiding, obliging, and compromising. In this scenario, I would recommend using the integrating strategy, which involves open communication, exchanging information, examining differences, and working toward a creative solution (Basogul & Ozgur, 2016). This nurse would aim to keep the focus on patient-centered care and how finding a consensus among the nurses would benefit the patients. This approach aligns with the Institute of Medicine’s core competency of healthcare professionals of coordinating patient care (Finkelman, 2016).
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