ADV Leadership 3- resp 1

RUBRIC:

Clarity, Relevance and Organization: 20 pts All discussion posts are relevant to the topic and are presented logically and clearly. This includes initial posts and posts to peers. Direct course applications and synthesis of scholarly information is easily discernable

Peer interaction: 20 pts

Exceptional- One post written in response to fellow learners’ post each between 100-150 words. Response is substantive insightful and contain at least one reference.

Grammar, Syntax, APA: 5 pts

Exceptional

Postings contain no grammatical or typographical errors. Citations in the post adhere to APA format as well as references noted at the end of the post (one to two errors). (Example: excluding double-spacing and indentation of the second and subsequent lines within the reference). No more than 25% of your paper should be direct quotes.

STUDENT’S RESPONSE

Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable and sometimes inevitable. Conflicts can be of different natures ranging from personal, financial, political, or emotional. Understanding how conflict affects employees and the company's productivity will enable the leadership to address it appropriately and resolve it. Foundational characteristics such as implementing a professional code of conduct, being impartial, and having ground rules of discipline can help limit or resolve conflicts at workplaces.

Excellent leadership skills, effective communication, nurturing, and positive dynamics among colleagues can help diffuse conflict at the workplace. Some methods or skills that may apply in conflict resolution in complex healthcare systems would include assertiveness, mediation, showing empathy, active listening, finding solutions by collaboration, and accountability. Resolution of conflicts should also be based on facts or data driven to resolve the conflict successfully.

The NICU population has seen an increase in cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in recent years. Managing the NAS babies has always been a challenge within NICU. Inconsistent treatment plans, neonates who are very demanding and challenging to care for, parents who can be emotionally taxing, and nurses' frustration with workload are all associated with NAS. Traditionally NAS babies have been treated with methadone, and individual physicians have their way of practicing this protocol. At the same time, this inconsistency led to an increased length of stay among the NICU population, putting a real financial burden on the unit. This resulted in a change in policy for treating NAS by introducing a new protocol for treatment with morphine.

The protocol included using 2 nurses' verification of the Finnegan scoring to ensure inter-rater reliability and structured morphine weaning protocol. This policy change was met with resistance from both physicians and nurses. Physicians felt that this protocol was very rigid and took away their liberty to practice clinical judgment. Another reason was that physicians were resistant to change as they stated they had practiced it their way all along, and the babies were fine. Conflicts can occur among co-workers, management, employees, clients, and service providers (in healthcare, family members, and providers caring for the patient) (Piryani & Piryani, 2019). By implementing the policy to very with two nurses if the scoring was correct, nurses felt that the management did not have confidence in their skills to evaluate the NAS infants independently. The pushback for this policy was tremendous, and the morale of the unit suffered. Conflicts can affect the competence, confidence, and morale of the employees, which can affect the care of their patients if not addressed appropriately (Piryani & Piryani, 2019).

Leadership initially ignored this resistance but soon realized that they had to listen and acknowledge this conflict. As a nurse leader, you must address conflicts and the first step towards it is acknowledging that a conflict exists (Lipcamon & Mainwaring, 2004). Leadership recognized that to achieve compliance from the staff members and the physicians, and they will have to resolve the conflict effectively. The result was meetings with staff and physicians, educational workshops, including information on the background, current national practices, our NICU data compared to the national data, and the reasoning behind the policy change. Leadership also took suggestions from staff and physicians to pilot this study and expand it to other NICUs in the state. As a nurse leader encouraging therapeutic relationships among employees and management will enable positive resolution of conflict (McKibben, 2017). Even though the policy change started as a conflict between management and employees, the outcome was positive.

References

Here are some examples of conflict resolution skills in the workplace. (n.d.). The Balance Careers. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/conflict-resolutions-skills-2063739 (Links to an external site.)

Lipcamon, J. D., & Mainwaring, B. A. (2004). Conflict resolution in healthcare management. Radiology management, 26(3), 48–51.

McKibben, L. (2017). Conflict management: Importance and implications. British Journal of Nursing, 26(2), 100–103. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2017.26.2.100 (Links to an external site.)

Piryani, R. M., & Piryani, S. (2019). Conflict Management in Healthcare. Journal of Nepal Health Research Council, 16(41), 481–482.