Conflict Sources and Management in the ICU Setting before and during COVID-19: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Abstract

Introduction. Conflicts are an inherent part of work within any organisation. They can arise between members of an interdisciplinary team (or between teams representing different departments), between patients and team members/family members, and patients’ families and team members. Various conflict situations among employees may occur, therefore it is very important to identify their causes and take preventive or targeted corrective measures. The aim of this study was to review the available literature concerning conflicts arising in ICUs—their types, methods of expression as well as their management and mitigation. In addition, we reviewed the available literature on the impact of the pandemic on the ICU environment caring for COVID-19 patients. Methods. The databases were searched. Single key words or their combinations using AND or OR operators were entered. Eventually, 15 articles were included in our review, which included two identical papers. Results. Conflicts occurred occasionally or rarely; researchers describing ethical conflicts demonstrated a moderate level of exposure to conflicts. The pandemic created many challenges and ethical dilemmas that are a source of ethical conflict. Conclusions. As conflict by nature remains inevitable, adequate procedures in conflict management should be developed and the leadership of managing personnel should be reinforced, because team members frequently expect guidance from their supervisors. The importance of training in interpersonal communication and crisis situation management in healthcare should therefore be emphasised.

COVID‐19 pandemic experiences, ethical conflict and decision‐making process in critical care professionals (Quali‐Ethics‐COVID‐19 research part 1): An international qualitative study

“…COVID-19, ethical conflict, health care, humanisation, moral distress, pandemic, qualitative research professionals from whom guidance or advice might be sought; the poor responsiveness on the part of organisations in their efforts to manage resources appropriately; and, the need to base admission criteria on patient safety and protection (Benbenishty et al, 2022;Choi & Kim, 2018;Czyz-Szypenbejl et al, 2022;Falcó-Pegueroles et al, 2021;Fernández-Castillo et al, 2020).…”

The Effectiveness of Healthcare System Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

“…According to the surveyed persons the most important managerial skill was effective decision making, skilled motivation and effective communication. The lack of the aforementioned skills could lead to conflicts on ethical grounds [105,95]. It should be noted that a manager's resilience translates to the team's resilience, which was described by Liang [106].…”

“…Amongst the informational, decisional and interpersonal roles the surveyed personnel have indicated the continuous assessment of the situation, composure when making decisions, the ability to delegate tasks and possessing knowledge about the situation that has occurred [67,109]. Providing support to employees, sharing of knowledge and motivating of employees has a significant impact on their resilience [105] and on the ICU nurses' resilience in connection with positive practice environment [110]. The ability to participate in workshops, regular assessment of management quality and evenly spreading the workload were important during the pandemic.…”

Კონფლიქტ Მენეჯმენტის Გამოწვევები Კოვიდ Პანდემიის Პირობებში

“…Even more so when there is a situations of high demand for the resolution capacity of professionals, managers and health systems, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic." [10] Of course, the covid pandemic had an impact on Georgia as well. The labor market of Georgia was not in a good condition even before the pandemic, the high rate of unemployment and the shortage of qualified personnel are characteristic of our labor market.…”