Conflict in migrant doctor–local doctor communication in public healthcare institutions in Chile

Authors

  • Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar Universidad Católica del Maule, Chile
  • Lucas Pujol-Cols CONICET, Argentina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.36271

Keywords:

Chile, communicative conflict, conflict management, migrant doctors, intercultural communication, public healthcare settings

Abstract

When investigating intercultural communication in healthcare settings, interprofessional communication has received very little scholarly attention compared to doctor–patient interactions. Interactions among doctors, however, are an important locus for the organizational life of a hospital as the way these professionals communicate will promote (or hinder) professional effectiveness and efficiency. This paper presents the findings of a study that explores the perceptions concerning the degree and frequency of communicative conflict of 61 migrant doctors working in public healthcare institutions in the central region of El Maule in Chile. Drawing on data from a survey on communicative conflicts, the study analyses the perceptions of the migrant doctors in relation to one particular style of conflict management, namely, adaptability. Findings show that although communicative conflicts seem to occur only occasionally, moderate scores are reported for how such perceptions are believed to affect work performance. Also, the demands of communicative adaptability are perceived to be met largely by migrant doctors alone. The paper then offers considerations about the possible impact that these adaptability efforts could have on migrant doctors’ integration processes.

Author Biographies

  • Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar, Universidad Católica del Maule, Chile

    Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar is a research associate in the Language in the Workplace Project, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She is an associate lecturer at the Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados, the vice-president of the Ethics Committee and a member of the PhD programmes of Education and of Psychology at Universidad Católica del Maule, Chile. Her research has focused on healthcare communication, including nurses’ construction of professional identity and the co-construction of narratives in the doctor–patient interview. Her current research project focuses on intercultural communication among physicians in the public healthcare system of Chile.

  • Lucas Pujol-Cols, CONICET, Argentina

    Lucas Pujol-Cols received his PhD in Management and Organizational Behaviour from UNICEN (Argentina). He is a research associate at Universidad Católica del Maule (Chile), a research fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina) and a lecturer of Organizational Behaviour at Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (Argentina). His research interests include employee–employer relationships in the context of knowledge-based organizations and the mechanisms that underlie the effects of working conditions and personality traits on employees’ attitudes, intentions, behaviours and wellbeing.

References

Alper, Steve, Dean Tjosvold and Kenneth Law (2000) Conflict management, efficacy, and perf­ormance in organizational teams. Personnel Psychology 53 (3): 625–642. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2000.tb00216.x

Altshuler, Lisa, Nan Sussman and Elizabeth Kachur (2003) Assessing changes in intercultural sensitivity among physician trainees using the intercultural development inventory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 27 (4): 387–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(03)00029-4

Anderson, Laurie, Susan Scrimshaw, Mindy Fullilove, Jonathan Fielding and Jacques Normand (2003) Culturally competent healthcare systems: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 24 (3): 68–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(02)00657-8

Bolados, Paola (2009) ¿Participación o pacificación social? La lógica neoliberal en el campo de la salud intercultural en Chile: El caso Atacameño. Estudios Atacameños 38: 93–106. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-10432009000200007

Brew, Frances and David Cairns (2004) Do culture or situational constraints determine choice of direct or indirect styles in intercultural workplace conflicts? International Journal of Intercultural Relations 28 (5): 331–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2004.09.001

Bruckmaier, Elisabeth (2017) Getting at GET in World Englishes: A Corpus-Based Semasiological-Syntactic Analysis. Topics in English Linguistics 95. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110497311

Craddock, Christopher and Kimberly Folse (2016) Psychological stress of Hispanics living on the border. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 18 (4): 856–863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0295-9

De Dreu, Carsten, Arne Evers, Biana Beersma, Esther Kluwer and Aukje Nauta (2001) A theory?based measure of conflict management strategies in the workplace. Journal of Organizational Behavior 22 (6): 645–668. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.107

Ding, Hongliu and Lee Hargraves (2009) Stress-associated poor health among adult immigrants with a language barrier in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 11 (6): 446–452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9200-0

El Mercurio (2015) Chile frente a sus inmigrantes. El Mercurio Blogs 14 March. Available online http://www.elmercurio.com/blogs/2015/03/14/30146/Chile-frente-a-sus-inmigrantes.aspx

Glazer, Sharon and Anett Gyurak (2008) Sources of occupational stress among nurses in five countries. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (1): 49–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2007.10.003

Goodman, Leo (1961) Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 32 (1): 148–170. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoms/1177705148

Gunnarsson, Britt-Louise (2013) Multilingualism in the workplace. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33: 162–189. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190513000123

Hall, Pippa, Erin Keely, Suzan Dojeiji, Anna Byszewski and Meridith Marks (2004) Communication skills, cultural challenges and individual support: Challenges of international medical graduates in a Canadian healthcare environment. Medical Teacher 26 (2): 120–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590310001653982

Heckathorn, Douglas (1997) Respondent-driven sampling: A new approach to the study of hidden populations. Social Problems 44 (2): 174–199. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096941

Holmes, Janet (2012) Politeness in intercultural discourse and communication. In Christina Paulston, Scott Kiesling and Elizabeth Rangel (eds) The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication, 205–228. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118247273.ch11

Holmes, Janet and Meredith Marra (2002) Having a laugh at work: How humour contributes to workplace culture. Journal of Pragmatics 34 (12): 1683–1710. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00032-2

Holmes, Janet, Meredith Marra and Bernadette Vine (2011) Leadership, Discourse, and Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730759.001.0001

Hovey, Joseph and Cristina Magaña (2000) Acculturative stress, anxiety, and depression among Mexican immigrant farmworkers in the Midwest United States. Journal of Immigrant Health 2 (3): 119–131. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009556802759

Kim, Young (2001) Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation. London: Sage.

Kreitzer, Mary, Donna Wright, Carol Hamlin, Sue Towey, Margo Marko and Joanne Disch (1997) Creating a healthy work environment in the midst of organizational change and transition. Journal of Nursing Administration 27 (6): 35–41. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005110-199706000-00011

Kumar, Rajesh (1999) Communicative conflict in intercultural negotiations: The case of American and Japanese business negotiations. Inter­national Negotiation 4 (1): 63–78. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718069920848372

Ladegaard, Hans and Christopher Jenks (2015) Language and intercultural communication in the workplace: Critical approaches to theory and practice. Language and Intercultural Com­munication 15 (1): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2014.985302

Lazzaro-Salazar, Mariana (2013) Investigating Nurses’ Professional Identity Construction in Two Health Settings in New Zealand. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Lazzaro-Salazar, Mariana and Lucas Pujol-Cols (2017) Riesgos psicosociales e integración profesional de médicos extranjeros: Un estudio sobre el manejo del conflicto en la zona central de Chile. Revista Médica de Chile 145 (10): 1300–1307. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0034-98872017001001300

Leiva, Lorena (2015) El papel de los médicos extranjeros en consultorios. La Tercera, 12 October. Available online: http://www2.latercera.com/noticia/el-papel-de-los-medicos-extranjeros-en-consultorios/

Lindhout, Paul, Paul Swuste, Truus Teunissen and Ben Ale (2012) Safety in multilingual work settings: Reviewing a neglected subject in Europ­ean Union policymaking. European Journal of Language Policy 4 (2): 137–170. https://doi.org/10.3828/ejlp.2012.10

Loewenthal, K. 2001. An Introduction to Psychological Tests and Scales (2nd edition). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Losa Iglesias, Marta and Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa Vallejo (2012) Conflict resolution styles in the nursing profession. Contemporary Nurse 43 (1): 73–80. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2012.43.1.73

Meliá, José, Clotilde Nogareda, Matilde Lahera, Antonio Duro, José Peiró, Marisa Salanova and Diego Gracia (2006) Principios Comunes para la Evaluación de los Riesgos Psicosociales en la Empresa. In José Meliá, Clotilde Nogareda, Matilde Lahera, Antonio Duro, José Peiró, Marisa Salanova, Diego Gracia et al. (eds) Perspectivas de Intervención en Riesgos Psicosociales. Evaluación de Riesgos, 13–36. Barcelona: Foment del Treball Nacional.

Ministry of Health (2017) Informe Sobre Brechas de Personal de Salud por Servicio de Salud: Glosa 01, letra i. Ley de Presupuestos Año 2017. Available online: http://web.minsal.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Informe-Brechas-RHS-en-Sector-P%C3%BAblico_Abril2017.pdf

Moncada, Salvador, Clara Llorens and Tage Kristensen (2004). Manual para la Evaluación de Riesgos Psicosociales en el Trabajo. CoPsoQ ISTAS 21. Barcelona: Instituto Sindical de Trabajo, Ambiente y Salud.

OECD (2014) OECD Health Statistics 2014 – Frequently requested data. Available online: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/oecd-health-statistics-2014-frequently-requested-data.htm

Palmer, Benjamin, Lisa Gardner and Con Stough (2003) The relationship between emotional intel­ligence, personality and effective leadership. Paper presented at the Fifth Australian Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference.

Penrod, Janice, Deborah Preston, Richard Cain and Michael Starks (2003) A discussion of chain referral as a method of sampling hard-to-reach populations. Journal of Transcultural Nursing 14 (2): 100–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659602250614

Pilotto, Louise, Geraldine Duncan and Jane Anderson-Wurf (2007) Issues for clinicians training international medical graduates: A systematic review. Medical Journal of Australia 187 (4): 225–228. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01204.x

Posthuma, Richard, George White III, James Dworkin, Oscar Yánez and Stella Swift (2006) Conflict resolution styles between co-workers in US and Mexican cultures. International Journal of Conflict Management 17 (3): 242–260. https://doi.org/10.1108/10444060610742344

Rahim, M. Afzalur (2001) Managing Conflict in Organizations (3rd edition). Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Salgado, Hugo, Sheila Castañeda, Gregory Talavera and Suzanne Lindsay (2012) The role of social support and acculturative stress in health-related quality of life among day laborers in Northern San Diego. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 14 (3): 379–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-011-9568-0

Skjeggestad, Erik, Jennifer Gerwing and Pål Gulbrandsen (2017) Language barriers and professional identity: A qualitative interview study of newly employed international medical doctors and Norwegian colleagues. Patient Education and Counseling 100 (8): 1466–1472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2017.03.007

Sportsman, Susan and Patti Hamilton (2007) Conflict management styles in the health professions. Journal of Professional Nursing 23 (3): 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.01.010

Stefoni, Carolina and Rosario Fernández (2011) Mujeres inmigrantes en el trabajo doméstico: Entre el servilismo y los derechos. In Carolina Stefoni (ed.) Mujeres Inmigrantes en Chile: ¿Mano de Obra Ttrabajadoras con Derechos? Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado.

Tijoux, María (2013) Las escuelas de la inmigración en la ciudad de Santiago: Elementos para una educación contra el racismo. Polis. Revista Latinoamericana 12 (35): 287–307. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-65682013000200013

Ulrey, Kelsy and Patricia Amason (2001) Intercultural communication between patients and health care providers: An exploration of intercultural communication effectiveness, cultural sensitivity, stress, and anxiety. Journal of Health Com­munication 13 (4): 449–463. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327027HC1304_06

Urzúa, Alfonso, Osvaldo Heredia and Alejandra Caqueo-Urizar (2016) Mental health and stress by acculturation in immigrants from South America in northern Chile. Revista Médica de Chile 144 (5): 563–570. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0034-98872016000500002

Zayts, Olga and Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar (2020) Healthcare communication in multicultural contexts: Exploring professional mobility. In Zsófia Demjén (ed.) Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts, 299–325. London: Bloomsbury.

Published

2020-09-15

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Lazzaro-Salazar, M., & Pujol-Cols, L. (2020). Conflict in migrant doctor–local doctor communication in public healthcare institutions in Chile. Communication and Medicine, 16(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.36271

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >>