- BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 4 Conflict Resolution.
Conflict Resolution
Greetings and salutations. I would like to present my opinion and actions regarding the conflict witnessed between housekeeper Gabriela and a PICU nurse, Donald, and the actions of the hospital administration to resolve the conflict. My name is (Student).
Operations such as those in a hospital’s emergency department or critical care unit are stressful, and therefore, disagreements between staff are bound to occur. This is caused by the sheer fact that disagreements, misunderstandings, and even personality confrontations are inevitable under the correlations and obligations that encompass patient care, particularly where time is of the essence.
Conflict in the health sector is not only disadvantageous to the welfare of the employees through their health and well-being, but also to the outcomes of health care to the patients. In order to promote a working culture that is supportive, collaborative, and effective in the area of health care, the sources and impact of the above kinds of disputes need to be comprehended (Modaresnezhad et al., 2021). In this lesson, we will analyse the actions of the hospital administration when facing the conflict between Donald and Gabriela.
Case Study Background
Conflict management involves identifying, assessing, and, therefore, handling conflicts that prevail between parties (Sinskey et al., 2019). Donald and Gabriela in the PICU corridor after a train crash that produced a toxic cloud, as detailed in the Vila Health case study. The case adds knowledge of how disagreements in a healthcare environment might harm the patients. He gave Gabriela the direction to rearrange an area so that he could move a youngster from the ER to the PICU.
Gabriela took Donald head-on and explained to him that she cannot go against her word and do assignments differently from what her superior instructed her. It worsens to name-calling, and then they compete over their jobs. The Nurse Officer In Chief, Jackie Sandoval, talks to Gabriela about the event after the latter complains of being offended by Donald before giving her a meeting with the PICU Nurse Manager, Phoebe Hemsworth. During the session, Gabriela complained to Jackie, who assured her and reported her concerns to Donald’s supervisor.
Though leadership did not follow all the best practices for conflict resolution, such as not meeting with the parties in person or not hearing all the parties, they did apply some of the seven Cs of communication when talking to Gabriella. When one complies with these standards, the capacity to effectively traverse a professional environment can be developed, and the chance to have one’s message received and understood will increase.
Cultural Competence and Its Relevance
Cultural competence doesn’t necessarily refer to your ability to produce cultural cues; simply put, it means that you can read cultures from all sorts of sources. Perhaps in critical care or emergency settings, the absence of cultural competency might be disastrous for healthcare providers. The following potential risks usually accompany the use of the proposed solution: new conflicts and misunderstandings, as well as the deterioration of already critical situations (Sinskey et al., 2019).
An example of Donald’s culturally sensitive or insensitive remark evident in the Vila Health case study was in telling Gabriela, “While you may be used to putting breaks first south of the border, here in America, the patient comes first, not your break. ” Such remarks make team members hostile because they are cruel as well as rude. An ill-advised comment that Donald made stunned Gabriela, who is of Mexican-American origin, and then the confrontation ensued. In a study, immigrants, minorities and those connected to immigrants are more likely targets of bullying than those from the majority, Bergbom and Vartia found. In addition, patient-centered care involves knowledge or recognition of cultural differences.
In essence, healthcare practitioners need to consider the cultural beliefs and practices of their diverse clients when delivering appropriate treatment. Cultural incompetence leads to faulty diagnosis, misunderstanding, and lack of trust, which all impact health outcomes and the quality of care offered. Healthcare professionals may be able to alleviate the shortage of cultural competence by enhancing their own cultural knowledge and skills through professional development (Sinskey et al., 2019).
Communication Techniques to Avoid
It is crucial to be aware of certain communication strategies to avoid when interacting with people from varied cultural backgrounds to avoid miscommunication or offence. Slang and jargon that the other person does not understand may hinder communication and lead to misunderstandings; thus, speakers should refrain from using them. Another source of misunderstanding is culturally distinctive language and idioms (Narzoles & Palermo, 2021).
Making assumptions about someone’s values, beliefs, or practices based on their culture is another crucial tactic to avoid. The ability to communicate and work together effectively is severely impaired when such presumptions cause bias and stereotyping. Recognizing that each person is an individual and avoiding generalizations based on superficial characteristics is critical (Steketee et al., 2021).
BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 4 Conflict Resolution
Furthermore, it is crucial to refrain from criticizing cultural differences or making value judgments since doing so might be seen as disrespectful and lead to relationship harm. To the contrary, dealing with cultural differences calls for more research, curiosity, openness to new ideas, and respect for other ways of life (Ramos, 2022).
An example of cultural insensitivity is Donald’s statement in the Vila Health case study; for example, the phrase “south of the border” may be insulting to some Latinos.
One must exercise extreme caution when using language that might be seen as disparaging or insulting toward people of diverse ethnic origins (Ramos, 2022). As a result, cultural competency is crucial in healthcare, as the Vila Health case study shows.
Relationship Roles in Communication
Recommendations: Vila Health’s management should encourage great listening to ensure effective communication and efficient dispute resolution. Imparting good communication measures to staff increases active listening since the staff can be encouraged to listen attentively and ask questions when something does not quite sink in. With reference to Zhang et al. (2020), adopting the active listening strategy ensures that everyone is involved and that what they are saying is well understood, creating a platform for understanding and cooperation.
For example, when Jackie Sandoval listened to Gabriela and acknowledged her concerns, the problem was automatically defused. Besides that, it can be stated that it is essential to be clearly understood, which is achieved through plain language usage. Two ways in which hospital leadership could promote a clear message are not using technical terms and ensuring that they do not use complex language (Narzoles & Palermo, 2021). It was important for Donald, in the case study, to explain the reasons for the room’s cleaning requirement to avoid a confrontation.
Equal emphasis has to be placed on ensuring that free and frank communication is practiced, especially in matters affecting conflict resolution. To ensure that people come out freely and express their concerns in the hospital, those in charge of the administration should ensure that employees and members of the hospital are comfortable when reporting issues as well as expressing themselves. Sinskey et al. (2019) observe that communication may be useful in getting to the root of the problems with the aim of solving them. For instance, in the case study, it is shown that Jackie Sandoval assisted in the identification of the issue and joined the employees, especially Gabriela and Phoebe Hemsworth, to address the issue.
Leadership might have provided certain information and answered questions or concerns to prevent conflicts and tensions caused by hasty decision-making without necessary precautions (Bachynsky, 2019). If everyone on the team understood that a change was in process, the lack of communication and understanding within the team could have been eliminated.
Communication in Teamwork & Collaboration
This paper establishes that relationships constitute a critical aspect of communicating since the density of the connections among the persons has a massive impact on how efficiently communication is conducted. When people enjoy good relations with others, they are likely to be more communicative and willing to share information reciprocally as well as collaborate in the accomplishment of goals that are assigned to them. Wei et al. (2019) highlighted that people will potentially experience misunderstanding and disputes if relations are strained or hostile, since communication is challenging.
To illustrate, cooperation and teamwork also presuppose good communication. Individual members of the group should, therefore, be able to communicate clearly in order for the group to deliver its tasks on time. Employees in the team are able to freely communicate and share information, and also give comments. Indeed, a breakdown in communication may occur from good communication; therefore, there may be confusion and mistakes, hence hindering the team’s performance.
Rationale
It is very important to communicate among team members to create trust. The fact that all the individuals are trustworthy, respect each other, and are honest with each other also makes the communication process in the team easier. It has been established that less hidden communication may enhance collaboration, output, and even quality of life (Wei et al., 2019).
Strategies to Improve Relationships
The care environment could be improved to reflect new ideas, such as enhanced communication between cleaning and nursing staff. Thus, conflicts and misconceptions can be prevented, and a better understanding can be had if the pipeline is kept open and people exchange information frequently. For managing the flow of communication, there might be established daily, weekly or monthly meetings, e. g. check-ups. Also, from the communication, it is easy to foster admiration and respect between people in a given team. As Başoğul (2020) enshrines, the housekeeping crew has the capacity to maintain the cleanliness of the facility necessary for the safety of both workers and patients.
The current cross-training opportunities may also enhance how employees comprehend each other’s functions in the organization. In their study, Roy and coworkers highlight that cross-training may bring beneficial changes that not only help promote mutual empathy but also smooth the walls between departments.
Another tactic is to set up social interactions during which people from different teams can get to know each other and become friends. Celebrating birthdays or anniversaries, having lunch together, going on a business trip, or any other outing that requires the participants to cooperate and mingle would fall under this category (Cappelucci et al., 2019).
Obstacles to Implementing Strategies
Some of the issues that may be encountered on the way to employing strategies for addressing the issues of communication and cooperation are resistance to change, lack of resources, and different cultural perceptions or values. Informality of communication and trust lie at the heart of workplace relations, and practicing leaders should support their subordinates’ endeavours in attaining knowledge (Tataw & Stokes, 2023). Junior and senior management must also play a part in the promotion of positive relations in departmental relationships.
Summary
The case of Donald and Gabriela’s conflict at Vila Health depicts how crucial it is for healthcare workers to maintain good relationships and how to end their conflict. When there are misunderstandings or misinterpretations between the two, worker morale and patient care suffer most of the time. Thus, it is apparent that there is a need for clear and courteous communication, bearing in mind situations of misunderstanding.
Among all conflict resolution skills, the most effective ones are likely to involve acknowledging the other party’s perception and expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a non-defensive manner to avoid exacerbating the conflict and promote improved working relationships. In this respect, the leaders in charge of healthcare settings should place conflict solving and relations among the primary objectives with an eye on keeping the respective care settings happy and productive.
References
Bachynsky, N. (2019). Implications for policy: The triple aim, quadruple aim, and interprofessional collaboration. Nursing Forum, 55(1), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12382
Başoğul, C. (2020). Conflict Management and teamwork in the workplace from the perspective of nurses. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 57(2), 610–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12584
Bergbom, B., & Vartia, M. (2021). Ethnicity and workplace bullying. Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse, and Harassment, 3, 393–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0218-3_14
Cappelucci, K., Zindel, M., Knight, H. C., Busis, N., & Alexander, C. (2019). Clinician well-being at the Ohio State University: A case study. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Perspectives, 2019. https://doi.org/10.31478/201908b
Modaresnezhad, M., Andrews, M., Mesmer‐Magnus, J., Viswesvaran, C., & Deshpande, S. (2021). Anxiety, job satisfaction, supervisor support and turnover intentions of mid‐career nurses: A structural equation model analysis. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(5), 931–942. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13229
Narzoles, D. T. G., & Palermo, D. T. G. (2021). Workplace English language needs and their pedagogical implications in English for specific purposes (ESP). International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 10(3), 202–212. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.23.2021.103.202.212
Ramos, S. L. (2022). The experience of immigration and aging on the health of older adults in the El Paso, Texas, border region. Proquest.com. https://www.proquest.com/openview/bad48e313f3c68e138b0efe7b2a16363/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Roy, L., Lemieux, A. J., Gagnon, J.-P., & Crocker, A. G. (2023). Lessons learned from the implementation of an intersectoral cross-training approach to improve justice outcomes for homeless adults with mental illness. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, 32, 100641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2023.100641