Teamwork & Conflict Management Workshop

Abstract

Abstract Introduction This workshop addresses the topics of teamwork and conflict management between physicians and nurses, with emphasis on the potential gender implications. The goals of the workshop are to provide a unique session for female physicians, residents, and medical students focusing on female physician-nurse interactions, teamwork building, and conflict management skills. The workshop is designed to provide a wellness activity and is structured for facilitated mentoring in a group environment. Methods After signing up for the session, learners attend the 4-hour session held in the facilitator's home. During the first 2 hours breakfast is provided and learners engage in ice-breaker activities and yoga to establish a relaxing introduction. The remaining two hours is spent completing exercises on teamwork, conflict management, and application of learned skills to case scenarios. Results This session was successfully implemented in an academic emergency medicine (EM) department and residency for women faculty, residents, and students. Eight women attended the session (four practicing physicians, two were residents, two medical students). Pre- and postevaluations were conducted using 5-point Likert-type scales (5 = Strongly Agree). To the item “I feel confident in understanding the components of effective verbal and nonverbal communication,” scores increased from 3.8 to 4.7. Assessed at postevaluation only, learners gave a score of 5 to the items “Learning skills for effective conflict management is a worthwhile activity,” and “I benefitted from today's group mentoring session.” Qualitative analysis of the responses to the open ended questions was also performed. When asked to identify the take-home strategies to employ the next time they faced conflict with a nurse, the following themes emerged: acknowledge the situation (be direct), actively listen, carefully communicate (calm voice), and be aware of non-verbal communication (body language). Discussion This session was successfully implemented in an academic emergency medicine (EM) department and residency for the women faculty, residents and students to improve their teamwork and conflict management skills.

Keywords

• Teamwork
• Collaboration
• Cooperative Behavior
• Gender
• Conflict Management