Conflict Resolution Skills for Ethics Committees (Conflict Management, Part I)

Abstract: Often, ethics consults stem not from moral puzzlement, but from conflict - - staff tensions about a complex situation, a "difficult" patient, intra-family feuds, and myriad other scenarios. Here, the optimal consult usually is not opining about ethics, but resolving conflict: exploring the situation, learning the back-stories that fuel the conflict, helping people articulate their most important priorities, and forging a mutually agreeable plan. Ethics committees and consultants must be prepared to discern what approaches and resources will best suit each consult.

This workshop teaches clinical conflict resolution, including negotiation, facilitation, and assisted negotiation. The workshop begins by presenting a key "toolset" of skills, such as: managing expectations, affect labeling, normalizing, active listening, and probing for detail. These core techniques help build the trust on which successful resolution relies, thereby enabling those in conflict to reach their own workable agreements. Practice scenarios are interwoven so participants can gain comfort in using each skill.

The workshop culminates in a two-part exercise focused on a complex problem of family dynamics. In Part One, small-group consult teams will "huddle" to discuss how best to approach the situation. Following a debrief, smaller pairings then conduct conflict resolution conversations. Everyone will participate in all practice exercises, followed by extensive debriefing for each.

The presenter is a highly experienced and frequent mediator, both for the courts and in the clinical setting. She teaches 4-day conflict resolution/mediation trainings for clinicians, has co-taught 5-day mediation trainings designed for attorneys, and also provides full-day "communications bootcamp" trainings for residents.