Recommendations for
nurse managers
The nurse manager needs to be
purposeful and thoughtful when
engaging in conflict resolution because
the quality of communication
and teamwork among healthcare
providers has been directly linked
to the safety of patient care.20 The
following are recommendations for
the nurse manager to strategically
enhance patient safety through
effective conflict management.
Engage in dialogue. Nursing leaders
and direct care nurses need to
engage in dialogues that address
conflict and conflict management
behavior as a first step in creating a
healthy work environment. The lack
of communication and prevalent
use of avoidance by today’s nurses
as a conflict management strategy
prevents the root of the problem
from being properly addressed and
resolved, thus the conflict situation
remains. This is important for the
acute care setting because it’s particularly
susceptible to conflict due to
the chaotic nature of the environment
that includes constant change,
poor communication, and multidimensional
tasks.