Role conflicts experienced by nurses and midwives at the university teaching hospital of Kigali (CHUK)

Abstract

Background: Conflict is inevitable and can be found in all settings. It can co-exist between and among health care professionals such as doctors and nurses and their patients. The roles of the nurses in each scenario and the kind of strategies they utilized to mitigate such conflicts also vary. This study aimed at describing types and level of role conflicts experienced by nurses as well as mitigation strategies used at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK). Methods: A quantitative descriptive research design was used to achieve the study objectives, while a convenience sampling method was applied with sample of 216 nurses from a selected referral hospital responded to the Nursing Conflict Scale (NCS). NCS consists of thirty-six items classified into five categories of conflict: 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. Results: The majority of participants were less than 30 years old while majority were female (59%), the three quarters had the advanced diploma. Just above a half (54%) have less than 5 years of nursing experience, most of them were working in the general ward. Nurses in the selected hospital experienced moderate level of conflict (52.8%); intragroup (1.26), competitive conflict (1.13 ) and disruptive conflict (mean=1.05) are the types of conflict mostly experienced at the facility. Collaborative (28.2%; n =61) and accommodating (28.2%; n =61) . Other strategies include compromising (23.1%; n = 50); and avoiding (18.1%; n = 39). Findings also revealed significant relationship between participants ‘age and conflict resolution strategies used (P value = 0.01). Conclusions: Intragroup and competitive conflicts are the most common types of conflicts experienced by the nurses. Nurses experienced moderate level of conflict. Therefore, nurse managers in the selected hospital 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.