Conflict Process

People with varying professional and personal backgrounds may often differ in practice or opinion on the best course of action. Misunderstandings and disagreements are bound to occur in any fast-paced healthcare setting. However, hostility and conflict should not be confused and merged. For example, when people disagree, lets say with the care plan of a particular patient, have serious ethical concerns with some procedures, or may be unhappy with how a colleague handles a situation, mechanisms of conflict resolution and tension de-escalation are vital in nursing (Arveklev et al. 2018). When nurses learn and practice solving conflicts, they make their days at work more manageable and redirect everyones attention and focus to the patients and their families who need them most.

Conflict is, therefore, a clash and a struggle of principles, opinions, or interests. Conflicts always occur in a working setup. However, the basis may range from international, personal, racial, caste, and class. Conflict can as well be theoretical, emotional, and intellectual. Intellectual conflict usually grows over time based on different cultural beliefs and values, hence, considered a subclass of cultural conflict. Within a group, conflict mostly takes a particular dimension. The usual interaction within the group first gets distorted by the initial conflict, caused mainly by members disagreements, opinion differences, or resource scarcity to the group. At this juncture, unity within the group no longer exists, and it can split into various divisions (Miles & Scott, 2019). Nevertheless, in some instances, this escalation period can be de-escalated through a conflict resolution stage, from which the group can reunite and return to regular group interaction.

On the other hand, Merriam Webster refers to conflict as any struggle caused by opposing or incompatible needs, wishes, drives, internal or external demands. However, where the battle occurs between two or more individuals, such conflict is interpersonal conflict. Interpersonal conflict can be between a range of levels like nurses and patients, nurses and doctors, and nurses themselves. Another type of conflict is known as issue-based conflict. It often results from disagreements on how to handle an issue. The leading cause of tension in issue-based conflict is a different approach to...…everything on purpose or as an act of revenge for some unknown reason. The misunderstanding and conflict between nurse John and Emmy were resolved by giving explanations and asking open-ended questions.

Practical communication skill is a model that can manage or prevent conflict between or amongst nurses. It is therefore essential for a nurse to try to understand one another. Literally, in most conversations, an individual would think of what response to give instead of listening to what is said. Communication is effective when the message received is interpreted as intended. Therefore, nurses must learn to listen to one another actively (Hoskins et al., 2018). One has to listen to the other without interruption for good communication to occur.

To conclude, nurses must remember that the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is the primary principle of nursing care that constitutes patients health and wellbeing. Conflict threatens this therapeutic relationship, hindering collaboration, teamwork, and communication (Arveklev et al., 2018). When nurses become more accountable, they would be able to eliminate or decrease friction within the work environment by enhancing practical communication skills to enable…