Conflict resolution strategies of nurses in a selected government tertiary hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Conflict is inevitable and can be found in all settings. It can co-exist between and among health care professionals such as doctors and nurses and their patients. The roles of the nurses in each scenario and the kind of strategies they utilized also vary. This study aimed to determine the conflict resolution strategies of nurses in a selected government tertiary hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Utilizing a Descriptive Correlational Research Design, 78 nurses were  asked to identify their conflict resolution strategies during their day to day interaction with the patients and doctors through a 20-item questionnaire. This study was conducted in a government tertiary hospital specializing in maternity and pediatric care with 310 beds in the East of Riyadh.

Results: Findings yielded a high utilization of conflict resolution strategies by nurses with patients. Accommodating (61.5%; n = 48) was ranked number one as nurses used this strategy in dealing with patients. Secondly, collaborative (60.3%; n = 47), the third is both compromising and avoiding at (57.7%; n = 45); and the least in rank is competing (56.4%; n = 44). Nurses utilized the following conflict resolution strategies with doctors such as: (1) competing (43.6%; n = 34), (2) both compromising and avoiding (42.3%; n = 33), (3) collaborative (39.7%; n = 31), and (4) accommodating (38.5%; n = 3). It shows that the number 1 priority for conflict resolution strategies is “accommodating” for patients which was regarded the least for the doctors. On the other hand, the least strategy “competing” with patients is the number 1 strategy of nurses with doctors. There is a significant relationship between nurses’ use of conflict resolution strategies consistent at collaborative with patients and doctors and their age. Findings further reveal that the overall use of conflict resolution strategies is significantly related to both patients and doctors. There is a significant relationship between nurses’ use of conflict resolution strategies at compromising with doctors and their nursing qualification. There is a significant relationship between nurses’ use of conflict resolution strategies (collaborative) with patients and their current nursing experience. The overall use of compromising as a strategy is significantly related to doctors. There is a significant positive correlation between the nurses’ scores of conflict resolution strategies for both patients and doctors. On the one hand, there is no significant difference relation between nurses’ use of conflict resolution strategies with patients and doctors and their socio-demographic variables (age, years of nursing experience) except nursing qualification. There is a significant difference between nurses’ use of conflict resolution strategies (avoiding) with patients and doctors and their qualifications.

Conclusions: Consequently, conflict is inevitable and is still growing in healthcare. We have determined the importance of identifying the conflict resolution strategies being utilized by nurses when they deal with their patients and doctors. Nurses can safely identify conflict and implement systems for its management.  Nurses and doctors must establish positive collegial relationships. The active management of conflict is an important aspect towards a positive collegial relationship. Doctors and nurses can effectively manage conflict to produce positive outcomes for patients.