Reflection on an Interview with a Departmental Nurse Manager

The paper thus employs reflective practice in critically analyzing successful conflict and complaint management strategies employed by my nurse manager in order to give me an insight of the future strategies I will employ and recommend the relevant changes. Successful conflict and complaint management strategies. Conflict and complaints are common issues in nursing practices. Successful mitigation of these issues plays an important role in ensuring better nursing care. The conflict can take the form of nurse-client conflict, nurse and colleagues, the nurses and management. Besides the study points out that reflective assessment enhances clinical reasoning. Description. I interviewed the operating theatre department nurse manager at Nasional Guard hospital where I am currently working, Mrs. Raquel o’levia. The interview session was conducted on () at () and lasted for 40 minutes and went smoothly as anticipated.

With time, I adjusted to the environment and found myself comfortably asking the questions. Throughout the interview session, she remained calm and seemed responsible for answering my questions. She made me feel valued when she informed me that she had other engagement and postponed them in order to avail herself for the interview. She remained calm and shared some personal experience in conflict management with me. She answered all my questions without hesitation. According to (Dagher, Kelbert, and Llyord (1995), this strategy involves being prepared to give up almost everything in order to ensure the continuity of the preexisting relationship. She pointed out that she only applies this strategy after realizing her mistake otherwise, she opt for better strategies. There are some instances where she realizes that her mistake might have been the reasons behind the conflict, for example, she points out a particular scenario where she unintentionally gave an intern a task she could not perform leading to conflict between her and the intern.

In such a scenario she advised that application of accommodating strategy is the best method of managing such a conflict whenever you realize that the mistake was yours. According to Marriner (1982), the use of accommodating strategy is relevant when the issue at hand if of greater importance than it is to you or after coming to terms with the fact that you were wrong however over usage of the strategy may make your juniors to thin that you are a week. According to Tufano (2014), this strategy is applicable when the issue involved is too important to be compromised for example in scenarios where patient's safety is likely to be affected by the result of the conflict. She validated the assumptions made by colleagues through an open dialogue instead of acting on the assumptions and misperceptions.

Besides she collaborated with the colleagues in the identification of the underlying causes of the conflicts. In some scenario, she invites a neutral person to intervene and help in the management of the conflict. In cases of limited resources and there is a health concern, she employs collaboration strategy in order to resolve conflicts in a manner that would benefit all the participants involved by involving them in the search for the solution to the problem. Ms. Raquel o’levia points out that via the collaborative approach to conflict mitigation; a win-win scenario is acquired since all the participants in the conflict are satisfied with the outcome of the conflict. She also felt that in some scenario, the use of avoidance encompassed the best strategy in managing conflict and complaints, especially from clients.

She pointed out that in some scenario, giving people time provides them with an opportunity to settle down and perhaps come to terms with their mistakes. According to Gross (2010) avoidance is necessary at times in any social setting. "You would want to compromise on an important issue as safety. ” She highlighted she limits this strategy to conflicts with mild to moderate impacts. She also asserted that this strategy works best for solving colleagues conflicts as pointed out by Tufano, (2014) She has practically seen colleagues who have overused this strategy and highlighted that she hardly use strategy unless it is very mandatory for her to use and even in such a scenario she can only use it for conflict with an individual in the same job level.

According to her, these negative consequences include: the nurses are likely to lose long-term goals or become cynical and is likely to portray the hospital as one, which lacks rules. Despite good traits of being responsible and independent, vast knowledge and experience in conflict management, she faces a plethora of drawbacks while dealing with conflict. In conflict scenarios, she seeks for clarification and makes her points as clear as possible to avoid miscommunication between the conflicting ideas. This good communication ensures that there are no cases of misunderstanding thus constituting nursing best practice in managing conflict. Nurses are faced with difficulties in dealing with conflict and complaints. The best nursing practices aimed at managing conflict are those who are open, harbor emotions and avoid conflict.

To meet the objective of managing conflict, team-building skills should be the first priority in the design of such strategies. Working with Mrs. Raquel o’levia is quite enjoyable in the department of operation theatre. With her immense best practice on strategies for conflict management, I will probably apply collaboration conflict management strategies to advance my nursing career. Given an opportunity, I will apply the insights presented by Mrs. Raquel o’levia conflict management strategies shared by Mrs. SpringerBriefs in Business, 13-26. Gross, M.  A. Conflict Coaching: Conflict Management Strategies and Skills for the Individual20101T. S. Comparing Strategies and Their Use. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 13(6), 29-32. SAHIN ALTUN, O. The Effect of Conflict Resolution Training on the Conflict Resolution Skills of Nursing Students.