Interpersonal Conflict in the OR
Wouldn’t it be nice to work somewhere where there was never any conflict? Wouldn’t it be nice if that actually existed? Remember, the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Every single OR has conflict. It may look different at each facility, but it’s there. The most important thing about conflict is how it is handled. Turning the other cheek is often NOT the answer for conflict. If unresolved, it will likely continue to happen and will likely get worse. Conflict makes your days hard, but taking steps to resolve that conflict can make those days less hard.
My biggest tip for conflict is to confront it.
If someone said something or acted in a way that put a damper on providing the best patient care, then it’s time to speak up. If someone says something that you don’t agree with or hurts your feelings, think about it for a few hours and if it’s still bugging you consider pulling them aside and talking about it. Another option here is to consider you may have taken it out of context or it wasn’t meant the way it sounded, which DOES happen whether we like to admit it or not. If you think that may have been the case, this is the time to turn the other cheek. If it happens a second time, then it’s time to confront.
Confronting someone about a conflict does not make you ‘confrontational’, it means that you will stick up for your patients and your own feelings and beliefs. I ALWAYS recommend going to the ‘insulter’ before making any other moves (unless it’s a ‘go straight to HR’ kind of event). More often than not, it was a miscommunication and what you perceived was not the intention. But, that’s not always the case. It could also be that the person did not realize what they did made that type of impact on you, if they recognize this, they will likely stop what they were doing which caused you to have the conversation in the first place. Then you’ll have those people who don’t care about how their actions effected others and refuse to accept responsibility, that’s when you go to your leader for advice.
Talk It Out
When someone comes to me and tells me they have an issue with something between another coworker my first question is always “Have you talked with them?” or “Do they know this upset you?”. Most of the time the person who came to me has a look of surprise on their face like they hadn’t even thought of talking with them. Solving issues interpersonally versus brining your leader into the picture is huge. It shows you want to build the trust between your peers and shows that you have initiative to create a better environment for not only yourself but for others who may be experiencing the same thing. Very rarely is my response “I’ll talk to them”. All that does is show that someone went and “tattled”.
There are some people who do not want to approach the “offender” and discuss what happened, while that’s okay, it’s not ideal. This type of conversation, however hard or uncomfortable it may be, should only benefit everyone. I know there are people who will not accept this type of conversation or even the thought they did anything wrong- we’ll save that for another day, but the typical ‘reasonable’ peer shouldn’t be an issue.
But What if I Don’t Like Them?
There are times when the person who comes to me with an issue just simply doesn’t like the person. I ask them to go through the scenario again but have someone they get along with replace the ‘not-liked’ individual. Does this still irritate you the same way? If it does, there’s likely a problem with what happened. But typically, they respond with “That wouldn’t have bothered me”. I respond to this with they need to find common ground with this peer in order to move along with our day to day. You don’t have to like everyone, but you do need to be able to get along with those you work with.
There unfortunately can be a lot of conflict in the OR, but when you work for 8+ hours in the same room with the same people day in and day out, in sometimes very (patient related) tense situations, what do you expect? Being able to navigate through the conflict is key in maintaining a positive work environment.
