Scenario #2

Day surgery in the town hospital performs colonoscopy and EGD screenings. During the COVID outbreak, elective procedures were put on hold. Rather than putting the day surgery staff on unpaid leave, they were told to help with tasks in the medical-surgical unit and in the emergency department. All the nurses in day surgery reluctantly agreed, except for Sally, who is a 70-year-old day surgery nurse with a history of diabetes and heart disease who has worked in the hospital for over 30 years. The current manager told Sally that she would not have to work in direct patient care and could instead help keep the supply rooms stocked and make phone calls. The other nurses did not know Sally's reasons for not wanting to work in the ER or medical-surgical unit and were angry that Sally was getting special treatment.

Skill Application #2

Opportunity Statement

The current situation is that the day surgery unit will not be taking cases during the COVID outbreak. As a result, all nurses from that unit, with the exception of Sally (who is 70 years old and has COPD), will be assigned to tasks in the ER and medical-surgical unit.The problem here is that one of the staff nurses, Tammi, became angry at Sally because she does not think it is fair that she will have to be exposed to possible Covid patients while Sally is getting special treatment. Tammi started making rude comments under her breath directed at Sally. Failure to address this conflict between Sally and Tammi would result in low morale, increased tension, and poor team performance. Ideally, Sally and Tammi would discuss their feelings with one another and maintain a strong professional relationship with one another.

Social and Emotional Power Skill

Interpersonal communication is the interaction and sharing of ideas and information among individuals to resolve conflict. As a nurse leader, I would use the SEI power skill of interpersonal communication to approach this situation with confidence and clarity. I would ensure I listened to Tammi and Sally's concerns with compassion and nonjudgment. I would also communicate the reasoning behind the different assignments, such as how those of a certain age and comorbidities are essential to consider when putting someone on a particular assignment. Using conflict resolution skills, I would work with Tammi and Sally to understand each other's feelings and needs and find a solution that we could all agree on to decrease the tension.

Strength

I would use my personal strength of conflict resolution to reduce the tension between Sally and Tammi. Listening to each team member's perspectives will result in working together to find a fair solution to this situation that everyone could agree on.

Communication Strategy

I would use active listening as my communication strategy in this situation. I would hold a meeting with Sally and Tammi to facilitate a mediated discussion between them. I would encourage open and respectful communication and clearly communicate expectations for future behavior to help build consensus between the nurses and improve the situation.

Based on the scenario above, describe lessons learned while determining the appropriate social and emotional power skills to address the scenario