[Sharon]

Think of an example of when you were involved in a work conflict where it was actually a productive conflict. Share your story on the online discussion forum.

[Melanie]

This work conflict occurred when I began doing file/chart audits on my colleagues. My People Leader chose me as I was a Sr. staff member and for the last 2 yrs I had received exceeds expectations on my annual reviews so this is how they determined who was deserving of this responsibility. Some of my colleagues were not happy with this as they didn’t think it was fair to have a peer reviewing and auditing their work. This auditing project was a way to streamline our work processes and ensure everyone was collecting the required information and entering it in the correct sections of the database. It was required for accuracy on reports being sent to the clients as we couldn’t have unexplained gaps or unexplained missing information.
I decided to put together a Power Point presentation for the team so that they could learn what exactly it was that I was checking for and offering tips/tricks and shortcuts so that things could be easier for them.
This presentation was well received and alleviated the concerns for those who had them. Helping my colleagues understand the “how” and the “why” these audits were being done and the importance of accurate data input. In the end this Auditing process was implemented into our program, I ended up training 2 other Case Managers to assist me once our program grew larger. Collaborating and sharing information openly and frequently is what made it a success.

[Sandra]

Very good idea about the power point presentation for the staff but I do understand how they would feel having a co worker go through their charts we always had our nurse clinicians do it so it felt a little less invasive of our work.

[Andrea]

I can sympathize as I am currently performing chart audits while I am on modified work. My coworkers have been asking how the audits are going but I didn’t think about why they are asking until I read your story. Thank you for sharing your experience. Perhaps it will help me to prevent a conflict by giving them reassurance the no one is being singled out during this process.

[Sandra]

The conflict that I was involved in that was productive was when the new unit opened up at the hospital which I went to, there seems to be so many allied health on the floor and we didn’t know what their role was. We ended up having a big meeting with the Dr. who runs the new program, the management, nurses, psws and allied health. There was lots of different opinions and things being said to discuss peoples roles and in the end it ended up being a good thing because it was finally figured out and then there was no more animosity between staff and no more “what is their job and they are doing nothing”.

[Heather]

I think that is a great idea to just sit down and talk about who does what. Nobody has time in their regular day to ask someone in allied health what they do and why and it is great to know how everything comes together and where we fit into the care of the patient.

[Maame]

Sandra this was a very good way of getting to know who your working and what their role entails.

[Heather]

Part of my job as personal support worker supervisor is to oversee client care plans and make sure that they are being done properly by personal support workers and being scheduled properly. We had a new scheduler that just wanted to get things done and put no thought into the visit times. We got many complaints from workers and patients. I decided to talk to her about why her way was a problem because her manager is a conflict avoider. I took the. time and explained why some visits have to be at certain times due to things like insulin that has to be taken at breakfast so therefore the worker needs to be there at breakfast time, along with other medical issues that come up. This did help to make scheduling better as long as it was communicated to her why some visits had to occur at a certain time space. There are still issues, but this issue is greatly improved.

[Andrea]

One time I had a conflict with a patient’s son who wanted to be involved in all aspects of his mother’s care while she was in long term care. The son often second guessed what the PSW staff were doing and was making it quite uncomfortable and challenging to care for his mother. As many people today do, he relied heavily on the internet to gather information on what his mother’s care should look like and then demanding we do care following the example he found.
One evening I had enough of his well meaning but misguided information so I asked the covering RN to come to the floor and do med administration while I set aside some time to sit down with this family member and explain how his behaviour was in fact compromising his mother’s care by making staff feel uncomfortable doing their job.
He then revealed to me that he was under a great deal of stress as his other family members were relying on him to care for mom as they were not in the area and they were upset with him for not keeping her home, even though he had cared for her for 13 yrs with no help already.
I pointed out that we were both trying to reach the same outcome, of giving his mom the best care we could, but that we had different roles on the team. One as a nurse and one as a son, and that it was OK for him to be” the son” now. After this conversation the son began to bring his concerns to the nurses and leave them with us to research and come up with a plan of care. Of course we still kept him in the loop of what we were planning but he was much more relaxed as were his mother’s PSWs.

[Melanie]

That’s a great approach Andrea! Knowing how involved the son wanted to be in his mother’s care but setting boundaries with him. Taking the time to sit with him and discuss concerns and behaviours was needed for sure in this situation. It’s too bad his family was relying solely on him and causing him more stress, that surely can’t be easy. It’s good that he now brings his concerns to the nurses and they can take charge.

[Maame]

A work conflict in which I was involved in that was a productive conflict was when some nurses were complaining that there was no need to give report to the oncoming shift. Some nurses felt like the 24 hour report was readily available on the computer. We had a meeting with all the nurses on the unit to discuss the importance of shift exchange report. The oncoming nurse might have a question regarding what occurred on your shift, due to the fact that the information might not be on the 24hour report.

[Author]

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