| Abstract: | Introduction: Conflicts among health care workers have been identified as a significant disturbing issue within healthcare settings. Management of conflicts is more important than the prevention of conflicts and their causes.Methods: A survey on conflict management styles was conducted among 228nurses and 56 physicians in Slovenian transfusion centers, hospitals and the Community Health Centre Ljubljana. The questionnaire included the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument test. Results: The results show that there are few open conflicts, but many latent ones. Intra-professional conflicts seem to be more frequent than inter-professional ones. The most common response of nurses and physicians to an emerging conflict is avoidance.The conflict management style was found to be similar in both groupsof health professionals, regardless of the organization activity, type of conflict, employees' position, the length of the working period or gender. Managers do not pay enough attention to conflicts and often ignore them. Consequently, the nurses and physicians have to resolve conflicts by themselves. Nurses more often enrol in conflict management programmes than physicians. Targeted education has, however, not improved interprofessional communication and collaboration in either group. Discussion and conclusions: Management of conflicts is not part of the organizational culture in Slovenianhealthcare institutions. The non-constructive problem solving resultsfrom the traditional pivotal role and power of physicians. As the medical treatment and nursing care are at the forefront, the interprofessionalrelationships are not given proper consideration. Nurses and physicians are overburdened with work and managers have deficient knowledge onconflict management and their role in solving interpersonal problems. (Abstract truncated at 2000 characters) |
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