by Holly Hayes
The Nurse Together blog has posted a four-part series on conflict in the healthcare setting. The first part looks at the sources and cost of conflict.
The article states:
Attempts to quantify the financial effects of conflict are also eye-opening. A blog post titled The Hidden Cost of Conflict Among Healthcare Teams quoted several studies that calculate these costs. For example:
One study done by the American Management Association on the cost of conflict showed that a manager will spend between 20% to as much as 50% of his/her time dealing with conflict in the work place.
In one particular healthcare system, the cost of conflict in managers’ time alone calculates out to:
45 Managers x $85K/year x 30% = $1.147 Million
And it’s not just money – human lives may also be at stake. The blog of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety reported on Managing Conflict Within Health Care Organizations as a Patient Safety Imperative, saying, “Whether conflicts openly threaten a major disruption of hospital operations or whether unresolved conflicts lurk beneath the surface of daily interactions, unaddressed conflict can undermine a hospital’s efforts to ensure safe, high-quality patient care.”
Part 2 examines common tactics for addressing conflict including Accommodating, Compromising, Collaborating, Avoiding and Competing.
Part 3 reviews guidelines for conflict resolution. The article recommends a five step interaction process when faced with conflict in the workplace: open, clarify, develop, agree, close.
Part 4 advises countering conflict with positive communication and suggests keeping these tips in mind: listen with empathy, watch your body language, recognize the need for a ‘time out’, avoid making judgments or defensiveness, confront the situation and not the person and finally, find shared goals.
Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at holly@karlbayer.com.
