I’ve been in healthcare for almost 30 years, starting out as a medical student, a general practitioner, a resident physician, orthopedic surgeon, then a training faculty progressing into the various clinical, academic, administrative roles I have taken past or present. In all of these roles, there’s no more challenging issue I’ve faced than conflict resolution, be it with a junior or senior colleague, an administrative boss, policy makers, regulators, and even the system itself. What’s interesting is that our habit and practice of resolving conflicts ebbs and flows throughout one’s career as a healthcare professional. Even now, I’m still learning and discovering new ways of resolving conflicts.
The current scandal rocking the entire Philippine healthcare landscape- already beaten to bones by previous scandals and pandemic, weaves a web of conflicting factors and stakeholders interests, one shrug in dismay, if there’s a resolution in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand every stakeholder in this conflict have good if not great intentions. One wonders though, how should healthcare move forward resolving such conflict? Which way? Better yet, how? Let’s ask healthcare professionals their thoughts and tips for resolving conflicts in healthcare.
T1. Have you experience conflict in healthcare work environment? Share your most challenging conflict and how you feel about it.
Emotions play a vital role in resolving conflicts. How we handle our emotions affects our ability to handle conflicts. One thing I learned over the years, never try resolving a conflicts when blood is boiling in your arteries!
T2. How did you resolve your most challenging conflict? What was the feeling after resolving this conflict?
Calm conversations with various stakeholders helps in conflict resolution or even in moments of disagreement. I am still learning the four step “The Walk in the Woods” method used in the nuclear arms negotiations between US and Russia. The steps include articulating stakeholders self interests, overlapping/enlarged interests, enlightened interest or disagreements, and aligning interests or (dis)agreements. These are not very easy steps but the feeling of relief afterwards is liberating!
T3. Share three (3) of your most important and effective tip for resolving conflicts in healthcare.
Listening play a big role in conflict resolution. Listening for the four “interests” I mentioned above helped me understand the nature of conflicts I’ve encountered. Putting yourself in the shoes of the other stakeholder (humility) also helped a lot. It’s fascinating how emphatic we can be if we put on the perspective of others in conflict resolution. Pause, if you have time and your emotions are boiling, also plays a vital role in conflict resolution. In most of my high tension conflict resolutions I face, it helped a lot when stakeholders take a “pause” from lengthy emotionally demanding conversations. I take a break often, walk, or do something unrelated just to free up my mind and emotions. Nowadays, I practice meditation during these conflict resolution breaks.
Join #HealthXPh on this conversation at “X” (twitter) this saturday May 18, 2024 9PM Manila time, with this topic, “Resolving Conflicts in HealthCare”, with these guide questions. Don’t forget to append “#HealthXPh” to every tweet/answers you make in the conversation. See you!
