Conflict situation in a suburban hospital, India: Reasons and measures to minimize

Health care has a prominent place in society and as a setting required to serve and care for its public and stimulate overall physical, psychological, and social health. It has a distinct obligation to generate a healthy workplace. Conflict and diversity are intrinsic in health care, and conflict in interdisciplinary teams is an accepted norm and unescapable. Thus, a study was conducted to understand reasons for the conflict amongst varied levels of healthcare staff in a 150 bedded multispecialty hospital in an Indian city. A Survey of 200 respondents (Healthcare and managerial staff) revealed that lack of appreciation, job stress, and competition within the department (32%) were the major reasons for differences amongst the employees. Concerning approaches adopted, compromising and collaborating methods scored more (38% and 38.6%, respectively). The results have shown that, in general, managers are familiar with conflict resolution techniques and believe in motivating their staff to increase their levels of performance and retain them with the hospital. However, there is a need to make the human resource system more robust and accommodating to ensure varied healthcare professionals from different qualification backgrounds and job roles are treated equitably