Managing Conflict in Clinical Placements: A Case Study Analysis

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Managing Conflict
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

1RUNING HEAD : MANAGING CONFLICT
Incident report
Nature/Type of Incident/Event: psychological distress related to the conflict
Description of the incident:
Monday, 24/09/2018, that was the first day of my clinical placement at Charles
Darwin University Emergency Department and my receptor was Jennifer Lee. She
advised me to orientate to the ward with a “search and find” and do some self-
directed learning modules in the computer to fill my shift. Later, she did not approach
me for later part of the work.
Tuesday, 25/09/2018, Jennifer asked me about the acquired knowledge and stated
that she was aware of the scope of the practice and she will discuss the placement
with me. I felt that her comment was ageist and stereotypical. After handover the
clinical responsibility, Jennifer instructed that I will look after two patients and was
assigned to two patients with leukaemia and the other with croup. She asked me
about my clinical knowledge about the croup and when I answered the question she
complimented me and I was confused that was it criticism or compliments.
Wednesday, 26/09/2018, I was allocated to the cubicles 1 to 4 with Jennifer. After
handing over the clinical responsibility, Shannon has about monitored the vital signs
of a male patient with pneumonia and observed that he was non-responsive and I
pushed the emergency call bell. I checked the patient’s airway and breathing. As the
patient was not breathing, I commenced CPR. Jennifer arrived there at the same
time as RN Anna and Dr. Tim. Jennifer asked me, “What have you done?” and when
I was about to respond, I was asked to finish the compressions cycle and step back.
Later, Jennifer went for a clinical debriefs and I was not even invited while I was the
first responder to the situation. I felt I was totally ignored, criticized and not-guided.
The environment along with the behaviour of my preceptor was demotivating. I felt
humiliated, isolated and it hindered my scope of clinical practices.
Brief description of injury/illness:
No physical injury was occurred however i felt humiliated, anxious and stressed
during the placement
Did the person receive treatment following the injury/illness:
No follow up or treatment was i received since i did not mention it to anyone.
Person(s) who saw the incident or first came to the scene:
On third day of my clinical placement Dr Tim Coloton and RN Anna Roberts were the eye
witness of the incident.
Action taken / intended, if any, to prevent recurrence of the incident:
In order to prevent the reoccurrence e, face to face communication between both
the parties regarding the concern can be done. Sharing thought process can be
resolve the wring interpretation and assumption of expression which will further
reduce the probability of conflict.
Describe any longer term action proposed to prevent a recurrence:
Long term action can be proposed such as educating all health care professionals
about therapeutic communication in the work place and mutual trust. Providing the
knowledge about the work place ethics and policies can be a long term action for
reducing the conflict. The outcome can be evaluated in intervals for understanding
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the progression.
Contributing factors:
Were issues related
to patient ID or
patient factors
(Manager)
No. patient was not the factor that contributed to the
conflict.
Were issues related
to staffing levels,
training or
competency? (Manager)
Partly it was issue was of staffing level since the conflict
arises due to the difference in the level of competence.
Was equipment (or
use/lack of use) a
factor? (Manager)
No. Equipments were not the issues since the conflict
created between two individuals.
Was the environment
a factor? (Manager)
Environment was partly responsible because of the superior
behaviour in the work place led to conflict.
Were appropriate
policies or
procedures or lack
thereof a factor?
(Manager)
Yes. Lack of appropriate policies or procedure was the
factor for conflict.
Was the failure of a
safety mechanism or
barrier designed to
protect the
patient/staff a factor?
(Manager)
Yes. the failure of a safety mechanism or barrier designed
to protect the staff was a factor.
Was communication
a factor? (Manager)
Yes. Miscommunication led expression and to
misinterpretation of give rise to conflict.
Signed:
(Worker)
Date:
Signed:
(Manager)
Date:
Work Health & Safety
Introduction:
Clinical placement is an integral component of student learning in nursing that
provides students an opportunity to work with a supportive nursing preceptor and
experience a safe and meaningful learning environment (Reyes et al., 2015). This
can help the student to acquire the learning experience and decrease the perceived
stress. However, due to the lack of communication between the health professionals
and the difference in authority the health professionals give rise to the conflict
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3RUNING HEAD : MANAGING CONFLICT
between students and patients. The student will further feel stressed neglected and
isolated. This paper will illustrate Discuss informal and formal procedures for dealing
with conflict, critical analysis of the case study and recommendation in the following
paragraph.
Formal and informal way of deal with conflict:
Conflict in the health arena is a growing concern and mostly showed as the
extreme expression of workplace violence. There are many pieces of evidence
accumulate that suggested that many conflicts remain satisfactory and unresolved
and resulted in the diminishing of the staff morale in the workplace (Frich et al., 2015).
There are few common causes of the conflict that affect the work environment along
with the productivity. Therefore, managing conflict is essential in order to enhance
the workplace environment along with the relationship between co-workers. In this
case study, there is an interpersonal conflict observed in between Shannon who is a
third-year undergraduate nurse on clinical placement at the Charles Darwin
University and his preceptor. Shannon was offended due to the comments tossed by
his preceptor and found it stereotypic, ageist and sarcastic in the certain context.
Consequently, he felt it was workplace bully and refuse to go to the hospital the next
day. When conflict cannot be resolved through individual’s discussion, employs may
initiate a formal complaint resolution process by filing a complaint or grievance. In
this case, informing the higher authority to look into the matter of the conflict is the
formal way of managing conflict. A formal complaint should be registered in the
higher authority regarding the area of concern, time, date, and place of the conflict in
the workplace. After formal complaints are made, the investigation should be done
by the authority followed by the decision making, establishing goals and
collaboration (Brown et al., 2016). Conflicts can be managed to apply informal ways for
resolving the issues. Conflict is formed between two professional when there is a
massive gap in the communication created due to the difference in mindset.
Therefore, communication is the most essential factor to resolve the conflict. In this
context, Shannon should talk to his preceptor about his area of concern that he was
offended because of the commend Jennifer tossed at him and he found it
stereotypic, ageist and sarcastic (Rahim, 2017). Listening carefully to the other
person without any interruption and asking the clarifying question is essential to
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