Problem addressed
Good communication is one of the most critical factors in healing work. Healthcare settings often generate conflict both among professionals and between staff and patients due to complexity, stress, and vulnerability. This is partly because healthcare is a highly complex environment at both professional and organizational levels. At the same time, patients are already in a more vulnerable state because of the worry and stress related to their health. Miscommunication and unresolved disputes reduce team effectiveness, compromise well-being, and increase the risk of patient harm.
Innovative solution
In response to this situation, we have developed a training program for healthcare professionals in collaboration with the Foundation for Women in Healthcare (Gyógyító Nőkért Alapítvány). The program supports and strengthens the conflict-management strategies of doctors, nurses, psychologists, and other healthcare professionals in their interprofessional relationships and interactions with patients and their relatives. Effective conflict management is crucial because it contributes to improved collaboration among colleagues, the preservation of their mental well-being, and safer patient care.
The program is available as an accredited, credit-awarding OFTEX course for physicians (Continuing Medical Education), including both theoretical and practical modules. The first training session was held on April 4, 2025, and included 34 healthcare workers. Our training is also open to healthcare institutions, primary care and practice communities, and psychologists. On these occasions, we provide conflict-management support tailored to participants' individual needs.
We are currently developing a conflict-related problem map for nurses and doctors at a national institution to provide effective, context-specific strategies and solutions for managing conflicts that account for the organization’s particular circumstances.
What makes this training distinctive is that its methods and results are grounded in international, interdisciplinary research on conflicts in healthcare contexts, which has examined these phenomena for more than 10 years. The program builds on the scientific and practice-oriented analysis of nearly 300 real-life conflict stories from Hungarian, Swiss, and American healthcare settings. This also enables the integration of experiences from multiple cultures and languages. During the training, we draw on these conflicts through situational exercises that raise awareness and sensitize participants. In addition, we employ independent conflict-management methods that engage participants’ emotions and embodied experiences during disagreements (e.g., conflict cards, visual illustrations, role-playing, communication exercises, and emotion-regulation techniques).
When developing the content, we focused on topics that are highly relevant to healthcare professionals and closely connected to their everyday practice. Accordingly, the main themes include:
· experiencing conflicts
· individual and institutional conflicts
· digitalization and digital burnout
· work–life balance
· communication and conflict management
· the role of self-justification in conflict management
Conflict processing places central emphasis on conflict cards created from both general and real-life situations, experience-based work with LEGO, emotional processing involving spatial elements and lived experiences, and the interpretation of conflict situations. Digital tool development is also underway, enabling the visual integration of individual emotions and states even during in-person participation (e.g., via the Padlet application). Our task database is continuously being developed, expanded, and adapted to the needs of the target group.
Key results and benefits
-Greater teamwork among medical professionals
-Improved emotional resilience in high-stress environments
-Safer and more responsive patient care
-Integration of research from over 300 international healthcare cases
-Adaptability for a range of medical settings and professions
Feedback from the first training:
’What I really liked was that the training exercises were based on real situations.’
‘I particularly liked the interactive exercises, especially when we had to visualize a conflict situation on a sheet of paper.’
’I liked that we listened to lectures first and then did the group exercises. In the group exercises, I liked that we worked with real cases and that we had to create something together in each exercise.’
’I liked the linguistic aspect.’
Scientific basis, some of our publications related to the project:
Kocsis D.–Csabai M.–Kuna Á. 2023 Az önigazolás szerepe és jellemzői egészségügyi dolgozók konfliktusaiban (The role and characteristics of self-justification in conflicts among healthcare workers.) Alkalmazott Pszichológia 23/1: 7–25.
Kuna Á.–Csontos N. 2023 A konfliktus mint narratív újrakonstruálás. A KÖZLÉS hozzáférhetővé tétele az egészségügyi dolgozók konfliktushelyzeteinek elbeszéléseiben. (Conflict as narrative reconstruction. Making COMMUNICATION accessible in the narratives of conflict situations experienced by healthcare workers.) Alkalmazott Nyelvtudomány 23/1. 35–51.
Kuna, A. et al. 2022 Being in the same boat, in two ways: Conflict metaphors in health care. In: Brdar, M. – Brdar-Szabó, R. (eds.): Figurative Thought and Language in Action. Amsterdam, J.Benjamins. 259–84.
Bochatay, N.–Kuna, Á. et al. 2021 The Role of Power in Health Care Conflict: Recommendations for Shifting Toward Constructive. Approaches. Academic Medicine 96/1: 134–41.
Csupor É.–Kuna Á. et al. 2017 Konfliktustípusok és konfliktuskezelés magyar egészségügyi dolgozók körében. (Types of conflict and conflict management among Hungarian healthcare workers) Orvosi Hetilap 158/16: 625–33.
Potential for mainstreaming
The programme is modular and adaptable to different healthcare settings, including hospitals, clinics, and primary care communities. It can be offered in institutional or open formats and tailored to specific professional needs.
