Role of health professionals’ emotional intelligence in conflict management in a public hospital

Background: Conflict is a competitive interaction of people directly or indirectly related and through this interaction one part tries to thwart goals, intentions and wants of the other part.

Objective: To assess the emotional intelligence (EI) role among health professionals (HPs) and its relation to conflict management resolution in a public hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a public hospital in Greece from March to September 2020. A random sample of sample of 153 HPs participated in the study. A self-completion questionnaire was structured including questions on socioeconomic characteristics, conflict management and EI. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS 25.

Results: The majority of the sample (56.9%) usually conflict with colleague, 23.5% with supervisors, 22.9% with subordinates and 20.3% with the hospital administration. Regarding conflict management strategy, 71.9% try to avoid the conflict and 53.6% negotiate for mutual benefit with the opposite side. 53.3% and 44.7% of the sample stated that differences in educational levels and the unclearly messages provoke conflicts. HPs has moderate level of EI (5.6 ±0.7). The increase of employees’ EI is correlated with the decrease of organizational problems. Contrariwise, employees with high EI, are more aware and satisfied with their work, they know their limits and obligations and are probably more adaptable to changes and requirements.

Conclusion: Conflicts appear to be common in hospitals settings. The detection of the factors causing them must be a priority of the modern health management which should encourage health care workers to report conflicts without being punitive.