Discussion postHealthcare leadership

Explain strategies for managing conflict resolution within a clinical health setting.

The comparison is the assignment. Two employees and two patients call for different approaches because your authority over them is different, and naming that asymmetry is the answer.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 23, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Why staff conflict and patient conflict diverge

Thirty-six words, and the third sentence is where the marks are. Identify why different approaches may be most appropriate is asking for a principle, not a preference, and the principle is about authority and duty. Over two employees you hold, or your manager holds, legitimate authority: you can require attendance at a meeting, set behavioural expectations, escalate to human resources, and document, none of which is available to you with two patients in a shared bay. You have a duty of care to both, they did not choose to be here, and the conflict is often a symptom of something clinical, pain, delirium, fear, withdrawal, or of an environmental problem such as a shared room. So the staff conflict is a performance and relationship problem, while the patient conflict is first an assessment problem. Write that asymmetry down before you list a single technique, because it is the sentence the third question is asking you to produce.

Build the strategies section on a recognised framework so the post has structure rather than a list of tips. The classic five modes, competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating, are worth naming because they let you say which mode fits which situation instead of implying that collaboration is always right. Avoiding, for example, is genuinely correct for a low-stakes disagreement during a resuscitation, and saying so shows you understand the model rather than reciting it. For patients, the interventions are different in kind: assess for a clinical cause first, then separate, then use environmental controls such as reassignment, then de-escalation technique, and involve security or an ethics consultation only at the threshold you should name. Close with the point the prompt is fishing for, which is that the same conflict style can be right in one setting and negligent in the other. Escalation thresholds belong in both halves, and they are not the same threshold.

Likely learning objectives

Apply a named conflict-management framework rather than ad hoc advice.
Distinguish conflicts you have authority over from conflicts you owe care in.
Assess patient conflict for a clinical cause before treating it behaviourally.
Justify approach selection by the structural relationship, not by preference.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

HLT 317V Topic 3 DQ 1 Explain strategies for managing conflict resolution within a clinical health setting. How would you handle conflict between two employees versus two patients? Identify why different approaches may be most appropriate.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. HLT 317V Topic 3 DQ 1 I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

What this Topic 3 discussion asks for

01Strategies for managing conflict resolution within a clinical health setting.
02How you would handle conflict between two employees.
03How you would handle conflict between two patients.
04An identification of why different approaches may be most appropriate.