Power struggles in hospital between MD vs DNP. Nursing Essay
Power and conflict in the workplace is common and problematic in the corporate world and healthcare is certainly not immune to it. Complex health environments infused with tension, fear and power issues can create insidious behaviors that impact teams, moral and patient outcomes. Issues of professional hierarchies can include inter-professional communication, “education” (ie. medical doctorate vs. nursing doctorate or doctorate vs. masters, bachelor trained health professionals), role clarification (power struggles), gender influence and so on.
Structure your paper with the following sections. 10-15 pages
• Title: this can reflect your individual focus within the paper.
• (untitled) Introduction
• Power in Relationships (describe the various power dynamics within the workplace that you are writing about)
• Sources of Power (Power comes from many sources, check textbook Chapter 9)
• Leadership Power and Influence (analyze the workplace situation that you are writing about, use the textbook for guidance and reinforce it with references. An example: the power of unions in the workplace, power of regulatory organizations in health care, etc. or a combination of all of this)
• Organizational Conflict (what is the conflict in the workplace that you are describing.
• Building Coalition
• Conclusion
mostly I am thinking to focus between the medical doctors versus DNP(doctorate of nursing practice) power struggle issues on work place. This issues is really hot topic at this time. Because the medical doctors don’t like the DNP ( Doctor of nurses practice graduate) because I guess it’s about business and power. The DNP are a doctor on nursing so they are more a kind of advanced nurse. Some state allowed them to prescribe medication fully without any MD supervisions but most state required co signers from the physician like Physician assistant. So this creates huge conflict and power struggle. I know friend they graduate on DNP but they cannot find job because the doctors they don’t want hire DNP or they don’t want give them enough orientation. So please find articles regarding this issues.
Also we can add struggles between administration vs nurses and other staff. For example administration want some kind of change but the staff will resist. My hospital nursing staff had union so it’s really hard to fire nurses without good cause. For this reasons administration facing challenge to implement new change. The other thing in hospital nurse abuse the younger nurses because most of the older nurses are a charge and have a power in the unit. So they will abuse the new nurse by giving heavy assignments and so on. So we can talk about this kind things and others
Power Struggles in Hospital Between MD And DNP
Students Name
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Most of the conflicts reported in hospitals are between the nurses and doctors. Each of them has specific roles that they should attend to, but in most cases, they end up working beyond their jurisdiction. Such conflicts not only create an inconducive work environment but also reduce the quality of healthcare being accorded to patients. Nursing requires both nurse scientists and practice experts to expand their knowledge to ensure that they provide the best care to their patients. Through doctoral education, nurses are prepared for the best levels of leadership and scientific inquiry. In some cases, the nurses might opt to become educators, but the main purpose of the educational program is to provide them with information to be applied in treating patients. Therefore, the larger percentage of nurses choose to work in hospitals. In addition, medical doctors examine and treat patients and are also in a position to specialize in different medical areas such as cardiology, pediatrics, and anesthesiology among others. They require state licensure for them to be able to attend to patients. As well, medical doctors and doctor of nursing practice are trained differently and therefore; this brings out the differences in the roles that they should perform in the hospitals. DNPs should hence not identify themselves as doctors because they do not undergo all the training that is necessary for an individual to become a doctor. Hence are plenty of differences between MDs and DNPs in terms of their various roles in the hospitals which are caused by the difference in their educational levels. The MDs are obliged at achieving certain tasks which cannot be attained by the DNPs. Therefore, their difference in levels of education and power has resulted in plenty of conflicts which in turn, reduce the quality of healthcare offered to the patients.
Types of power dynamics in the hospitals/sources of power
Expert power occurs in a situation whereby the involved parties have different qualifications in regard to their education. There are various conflicts that arise as a result of the difference in power between the MD and the DPN. For example, DNPs are allowed to prescribe medicine without the supervision of an MD. This is a source of conflict in the organization because the doctors feel like they have equal obligation with the nurses regardless of the difference in their levels of education. The MDs and DNPs are known to have different educational levels, and therefore, it is the obligation of each one of them to act within their stipulated roles. There are some medical cases that can only be handled by a doctor, and therefore, the nurses should be made aware of such cases in a polite manner to avoid creating a conflict. Such power comes in with a leadership role and given the fact that not everyone is able to lead, then this becomes a challenge to the doctor in the manner in which they handle cases with the DNP. Some doctors lack favorable leadership traits, and in turn, it becomes difficult for them to effectively communicate roles to the nurses. Once the DNPs fail to perform roles that were not effectively communicated to them, then they end up having a conflict. It is not easy to avoid conflicts arising between the MDs and DNPs as a result of expert power due to the lack of leadership traits. Some nurse doctorals have better leadership skills as compared to doctors. However, given that the doctors have better medical knowledge than the nurses then they stand high chances of having conflicts with one another (Mundinger, 2015).
Information power is caused by an individual possessing some type of information that is not known to other leaders. The MD and DNP have different levels of education which could result in conflicts in the workplace. Their different levels of education dictate the amount of information that they know in regard to what they have learned in the classroom. The MD has the knowledge to make a certain diagnosis which cannot be made by a DNP. Therefore, in a situation whereby some of the nurses do not fully follow this kind of power, then they are bound to have conflicts with the doctors. As a result of information power, the doctors and the DNPs might end up having a conflict which in turns, affects their effectiveness in treating patients.
Coercive power occurs in the situation whereby some of the employees are forced into performing specific tasks which are not part of their expected roles. There are cases of bullying whereby senior nurses force novice nurses into performing difficult tasks which require the assistance of the senior nurses or doctors (Koh, 2016). This has been a problem in most of the hospital over the years because the novice nurses are in need of the job and hence, they end up performing difficult tasks for them to keep their jobs. This bullying not only affects the novice nurses but also have a negative impact on the patients because some of the nurses are not aware of how to correctly perform some procedures. The doctors should train the nurses on how to perform such procedures before allowing them to perform them without their supervision (Kaitelidou, Kontogianni, Galanis, Siskou, Mallidou, Pavlakis & Liaropoulos, 2012). This would reduce conflicts and ensure that patients receive quality healthcare.
Leadership power and influence:
The MDs and DNPs have various ways of running activities within the hospital. This creates a struggle between the administration and other staff since the staff is expected to follow the new ways of leadership. Some staff is rigid to change, and this has been a source of conflict in the workplace. However, not all change that is supposed to be implemented in the hospital turns out to be positive. For instance, employees might resist a change that would result in an increase in their obligations or a reduction in their salaries. It is the obligation of the management to ensure that they practice good leadership styles within the hospital. Good leadership is the key to the creation of a conducive work environment which is necessary for the provision of quality healthcare. Through good leadership, hospitals will be able to avoid most of the conflicts that arise between the MDs and the DNPs. Each of them will be aware of their scope of work hence making it easy for them to attend to patients without unnecessary struggles.
In addition, labor unions have been formed to protect the rights of the employees. The labor unions protect them from being mistreated in the workplace and ensure that they are effectively compensated for the work done. The best part of the labor unions is that they can organize riots in the case whereby the hospital has failed to treat the employees fairly. Cases have been reported whereby nurses whereby being bullied and left to do all the work by the doctors. Each of the nurses and doctors has specific roles that they should perform in the hospital and therefore if such roles are not performed willingly, it is the obligation of the labor unions to ensure that their members are not bullied. For instance, part-time doctors leave the nurses to do most of their duties because they have a limited time to attend to patients in each of the hospitals. The nurses end up overworking and are never compensated for the extra work. As well, some cases might force nurses into taking extra shifts that they are not fairly compensated for. This could also result in overworking ad in turn, reduce their effectiveness in treating patients. Therefore, the labor unions ensure that the nurses and doctors are treated fairly in the workplace hence reducing the chances of having conflicts.
Organizational conflict
Hospitals are facing conflicts as a result of the different levels of education between the MDs and the DNPs...