Usmle Review Conflict Resolution Strategies

Conflict is a daily reality for everyone, especially if you are trying to prepare for the USMLE boards. There is a certain amount of stress that is always present when reviewing for the USMLE Steps and it would not be helpful if conflicts arise in an in-house USMLE review. It would affect a medical student's uptake of the necessary knowledge and skills he need, to attain that good USMLE score.

Some conflicts are relatively minor, easy to handle or can be overlooked. Others are of greater magnitude, however; things that require a strategy for successful resolution if they are not to create constant tension or lasting enmity even after the USMLE review. There are three conflict resolution strategies namely:

Avoidance. Some medical students attempt to avoid conflict situations altogether or to avoid certain types of conflict. These students tend to repress emotional reactions, look the other way or leave the situation entirely. Either the medical student cannot face up to such situations effectively or they do not have the skills to negotiate them effectively. Although avoidance has a survival value in instances where escape is possible, they usually do not provide the individual with a high level of satisfaction. They tend to leave doubts and fears about meeting the same type of situation in the future and about such valued traits as courage or persistence.
Diffusion. This tactic is essentially a delaying action. Diffusion is a strategy wherein you try to cool off the situation, at least temporarily; or to keep the issues so unclear that attempts at confrontation are improbable. Resolving minor points while avoiding or delaying discussion of the major problem, postponing until a more auspicious time and avoiding clarification of the salient issues underlying conflict are examples of diffusion. Again, as with avoidance strategies, such tactics work when delay is possible, but they typically result in feelings of dissatisfaction, anxiety about the future and concerns about oneself.
Confrontation. The third major strategy involves an actual confrontation of conflicting issues or persons. Confrontation can be a show of financial or physical force, like a punch in the nose, bribery or punishment. It can also be an opportunity for negotiation. Negotiation provides the most positive and the least-negative by-products of all conflict resolution strategies because it aims to resolve the conflict with a compromise or a solution which is mutually satisfying to all the parties involved in the conflict.

These are all strategies that a medical student developed from childhood in dealing with conflict. Even if these preferred approaches do not resolve the conflict successfully, they continue to be used because of lack of awareness of alternatives.

By: Gerald Faye Johnson

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Gerald Faye Johnson is an Educational Content Consultant for various Step One USMLE Reviews produced by Apollo Audiobooks, LLC and Premedical Solutions, LLC. You can find the source interview podcast for this USMLE 1 resource at our website.