PERCEIVED INTRA PROFESSIONAL CONFLICTS, SOURCES AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG NURSES IN SELECTED TERTIARY HEALTH FACILITIES IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

                                                                                         Following the numerous benefits associated with EHR, adoption of EHR has increased dramatically in most countries of the world since 2009. With the ongoing radical changes in nursing profession in Nigeria, the adoption of EHR by nurses in Nigeria is long overdue. Thus the purpose of this study was to investigate intra-professional conflict among nurses, sources and coping strategies in selected tertiary Health facilities in the south east zone of Nigeria. A cross sectional survey design was employed and a sample size of 997 nurses participated in the study .The instruments used for the study were questionnaire and a structured interview .The instrument were validated by the researcher’s supervisor and two other experts from nursing and health department University of Nigeria Enugu Campus .A cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained .Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 16.00.Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics . Findings revealed lack of clarity of task (0.001), unclear job description for new nurses (0.000) and who to delegate job (0.001) as types of intra professional conflicts among nurses .Out of the nineteen source of intra professional conflict examined in the study, only three, petty jealousy (0.89), nursing goal to be achieved (0.73) personal animosity against the nurse manager (0.15) were not significant. Also only Eleven out of twenty five coping strategies yielded significant outcome (see chapter four) .Test of hypotheses showed that sources of conflict increases with age (P< .05); source of intra professional conflict increase with qualification(P<.05) increases. Finally, coping strategies were found to be higher in females than males. In conclusion, there is a high prevalence of intra professional conflict among nurses .Based on the findings, the study recommends among other things inclusion of professional conflict management course in the educational curriculum of nurses, improved welfare package, frequent seminars and workshops on professional conflict management.     Keywords:  Coping strategies, health workers, Intra professional conflict, nurses,