Pharmacists' experience of conflict in community practice

Background

Interpersonal conflict may be characterized as intellectual disagreement with emotional entanglement. Although interpersonal conflict has been studied and described in different health care settings, there is little research that focuses on community pharmacists and the ways in which they experience conflict in professional practice.

Objective

To describe and characterize the experience of interpersonal conflict within community pharmacy practice.

Methods

A self-reporting narrative log was developed in which actively recruited pharmacists reported and reflected on their day-to-day experiences of interpersonal conflict in professional practice. Focus groups of pharmacists were convened after data analysis to provide context and confirmation of identified themes. Based on this analysis, an explanatory model for interpersonal conflict in community pharmacy practice was generated.

Participants were actively recruited from community pharmacy settings in the Toronto (Canada) area. A total of 41 community pharmacists participated.

Findings

Interpersonal conflict in pharmacy practice is ubiquitous and results from diverse triggers. A conflict stance model was developed, based on the worldview and the communication style of the individual pharmacist. Specific conflict stances identified were imposing, thwarting, settling, and avoiding. Further testing and refinement of this model are required.

Conclusion

The impact of conflict in pharmacy practice is significant. Pharmacists' experience of conflict led to development of the 4-stance model described in this research: further work to confirm this model and to extend it to other pharmacy practice or health care settings is required. In addition, further work to discern methods for enhancing conflict resolution and management skills of pharmacists using this model should be undertaken.