A New Focus in Healthcare Conflict Research

Abstract

A scoping review of published articles that reported causes and consequences of healthcare conflicts was conducted to advance the knowledge base in this domain– a field that remains surprisingly underexplored given the evidence associating conflicts with patient care outcomes [1,2]. The purpose of the review was to identify and synthesize key triggers and impact of healthcare conflicts arise during patient care. A meta-analysis of empirical studies on intra-group conflicts in business organizations guided the conceptual framework of our scoping review, which targeted conflicts along the individual, interpersonal and organizational spectrum [3].