Manal Zeinhom Ahmed Higazee
Objectives: The current study aimed to identify types and level of conflict experienced by nurses, determine the relationship between demographic characteristics of the study sample and experienced level of conflict among nurses, and test the reliability of the utilized nursing conflict scale.
Methods: A quantitative descriptive correlational research design was used to achieve study’s objectives. One hundred and twenty eight nurses from five private and governmental hospitals responded to the Nursing conflict scale (NCS). NCS consists of thirty six items classified into five categories: Disruptive, interpersonal, intrapersonal, intergroup, intragroup, and competitive. The instrument utilizes a score of (0-2), and the total instrument score is 72. The total instrument reliability is (0.86) and its scoring system was calculated as: Low conflict level experience ranges from 0 to 24 (<33.3%), moderate conflict level experience ranges from 25 to 48 (33.3 - <66.7%), and high conflict level experience ranges from 49-72 (≥ 66.7%).
Results: NCS is a reliable scale for determining level and type of conflict experienced by nurses in the hospital settings. Nurses in the selected hospitals experienced moderate level of conflict (37.5), intragroup and competitive conflict (M=1.21, 1.20 respectively) followed by disruptive conflict (M=1.04) are the types of conflict mostly experienced by study sample. According to demographic characteristics of the study sample, only the type of hospital affects nurses' experience of conflict.
Conclusion: Intragroup conflict and disruptions from physicians are the most common types of conflicts experienced by the study sample. Nurses experienced moderate level of conflict. Therefore, nurse managers in the selected hospitals need to employ effective strategies to decrease nurses’ experience of conflict, develop collaboration between nurses and physicians to create healthier and more productive work environment which positively affect the quality of nursing care.
