Conflict Management in Nursing Conflict management is one of the most important aspects of a healthcare system. This is because of the impact that conflicts have on the effectiveness of nurses and other healthcare professionals. It is manifested in different ways that include the interpersonal conflict between nurses, a conflict between a nurse and the patient or his or her family and the conflict between a nurse and another professional working in a different discipline. Therefore, it is important for the nurse manager to have the right skills that will ensure that he or she can not only identify conflicts at an early stage but also ensure that the measures are taken to deal with the condition before it escalates. This paper looks at the concept of conflict management by focusing on the issue of interpersonal conflict as addressed in "Keeping the Peace: Conflict Management Strategies for Nurse Managers" by Mary Johansen

The article argues that an effective resolution of a dispute in a nursing setting takes into consideration understanding of the disagreement and the how clear communication is between the involved parties. Interpersonal conflicts are the most common and include the patient and the family, the nurse manager and the physicians. Interpersonal conflict with professional peers who include physicians, as well as individuals, was common in acute care environments. Among the five conflict management practices, the article argues that nurses prefer the avoidance approach in the management of the interpersonal conflict. On the side of the managers, compromise is the dominant conflict management style. It is clear...

Based on the article, the avoidance conflict management style that is usually adopted by nurses indicates stress with seniors and peers and may be a sign of work related stress affecting the nurse. Work-related stress is one of the causes of poor patient outcomes that include medication errors or even patient falls.
For the nurse manager, it is important to adopt a critical approach when it comes to conflict resolution. This is mainly because the quality of communication and teamwork that nurses have is directly related to the safety of patient care. The article argues that one of the things that the nurse manager should do is to engage in dialogue, which has the power to create a healthy work environment. This is because the avoidance of a conflict means that the nurses are not able to address the root of the problem, which means that the conflict situation remains. Acute care setting is one of the areas where the author proposes as a beneficiary of the dialogue…