Reflective Journal Due April 15th

This week we learned about conflict resolution. We got to watch a movie called The Guardian, a show I'd never heard of before. I rented it from Amazon as I had problems accessing it through the UVU Fulton Library. It cost $4 to rent and it worked well with no lags and it was a great movie. There were several examples of conflict and conflict resolution. Here are some of the lessons of positive conflict resolution I learned from the movie: 

• Having patience and tolerance and cooling off instead of reacting and doing something “stupid”.
• When Kevin Costner had the students experience hypothermia and the director of the program approached Kevin...the director asked why this exercise wasn’t approved by him first...that hypothermia was just meant to be taught in the classroom. Kevin briefly took a moment to explain why he was teaching it the way he was (all the while going through hypothermia with is students). The director seemed to understand. Kevin spoke to the director calmly and respectfully.
• Kevin Costner sought to understand “Goldfish”. He found out more about “Goldfish” which helped him understand that him and “Goldfish” were a lot alike. This changed his thinking about “Goldfish”.
• Kevin Costner and “Goldfish” finally were able to talk and try to understand one another better. They were able to share some personal experiences that helped them understand each other and helped them resolve conflict.

We also had a group discussion where we discussed the following: 

• Assertive Communication and Aggressive Communication
• Create examples of each
• Outline the steps to properly deal with these situations at the lowest level

This was a good discussion and we pretty much all came up with similar ideas. Nothing stood out that changed my opinion, but the following were my opinions: 

Conflict: a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

• Example: A nurse fails to do post-op vital signs on a patient on purpose and ignores a colleague’s reminder of the importance of following the protocol. The colleagues foster ill feelings toward one another.
• Dealing with the situation on the lowest level: If there’s a conflict between two coworkers, first privately discuss your concern with one another. If the conflict cannot be resolved, then the employees can discuss their concerns with their nursing supervisor. From there, the nursing supervisor will follow hospital policy in handling the situation.

Assertive Communication: communication expressing positive and negative ideas in an open, honest, direct and respectful manner. It recognises our rights while still respecting the rights of others. It allows us to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions without judging or blaming other people.

• In the same example above, the colleague with the concern would privately, calmly, openly and respectfully explain the violation seen and why it’s a patient safety concern.
• Dealing with the situation on the lowest level: This is properly handled so I wouldn’t need to “deal” with the situation other than having the nurse who violated procedure fill out an incident report.

Aggressive Communication: Communication using one's rights in a way that violates or ignores the rights of others often to get your own way at other people's expense. Aggressive behaviour often involves putting people down, making them feel guilty, intimidated, small, incompetent, foolish or worthless.

• In the same example above, the nurse who was “called out” on the violation responds by raising their voice, “You like to point out everyone’s mistakes and think you’re so perfect! Well I saw you make a mistake yesterday. You should keep your thoughts to yourself since you’re not perfect either! Besides, I had my reasons for not taking the post op vitals. You shouldn’t question my methods.”

Dealing with the situation on the lowest level: A nursing supervisor should be notified of this, especially if it’s a recurring reaction. A verbal warning should be given. Another reported instance would be cause for a written warning. After 2 written warnings, probation for 2 weeks and one more instance would be cause for termination.

Conflict is something that will be a part of our lives and it's important to understand how to wisely resolve it. This was a great exercise and will prove useful throughout my career and life.