Wallet Card Intro to Healthcare Conflict Management (CM)

©Jeanne F. Franklin, Esq. and Jane Reister Conard, Esq.

SETTING-UP a Program

• Shared goals and policy for productive handling of disputes, conflict and differences of opinion - “DCDs”

• Who should be involved and who should be consulted?
• Assess what resources you have and what you need to handle DCDs
• Create a CM plan (the what, who, when) that fits your situation
• Test the plan (try it out on selected medical staff issues, medical staff-administration disputes, disruptive behavior issues)
• Communications work
• Sell it (training/outreach) and use it
• Measure outcomes

VALUES To Observe

• Respect for all involved
• Building and maintaining relationships
• Professionalism
• Skill
• Voluntary involvement
• Learning – not punishment
• Timeliness

 EXPECTED BENEFITS

• Foundation for navigating healthcare changes
• Support for culture of continually improving quality and safety
• Ability to handle DCDs on your own turf
• Help at hand when you need it (a form of chance favoring the prepared mind)*                                       
• Free people to get their jobs done
• Minimize undesirable costs of DCDs
• Build cooperative, mutually supportive, learning culture
• Applicable to variety of categories of DCDs

        * REMEMBER THAT CM CAN ALSO STAND FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT!