Scenario A new graduate RN is working on a medical-surgical unit. She is enthusiastic and an excellent nurse. One day, she administered the wrong medication to a patient and documented it in the patient’s electronic health record. The error was discovered by her preceptor, who completed an incident report. The next morning, she was called into the nurse leader and manager’s office and reprimanded for the error. In the days that followed, her preceptor belittled the new graduate RN whenever he saw her. He told several nurses about the error, and they began teasing her. Often, she would walk into the breakroom to find staff gossiping about her. The new graduate RN comes to you as her leader/manager and reports feeling depressed and considering resigning. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Based on your conflict style, what are the pros and cons of the preceptor’s reaction for this specific situation? 2. Consider the other styles of conflict management that you could draw on to resolve the situation. Is one of the other styles more appropriate for the current situation? If so, why? 3. Now choose one of your lowest-performing styles, and identify at least two scenarios where this approach would be the best to conflict management.
