Question

Coworker Interactions Discussion Forum

The goal as you read this is to first think about how the person’s culture may be causing the conflict, then to think about how you would resolve the conflict. You may read the scenario and see nothing at all wrong; perhaps you would act the same as the person described as your frame of reference is similar. How you view these scenarios is completely dependent on your own frame of reference. Your answer may very well be that you don’t see a problem with the situation, or that you would find the situation intolerable and would need to seek employment elsewhere.

Instruction:

Please use this opportunity to take a realistic look at discrimination in our area. In order for everyone to be honest and feel comfortable interacting, you must all make a commitment to be open, but courteous. In other words, no bad language, slurs, stereotyping, etc. It is your chance to educate each other.

1. You are a surgical technologist. One of the anesthesiologists you work with makes rude comments about the bodies of the patients once they are anesthetized and uncovered. In your frame of reference, this is highly disrespectful, whether the patient can hear the comments or not. How do you resolve this?

2. You work in a large billing office. The office staff is very diverse, both ethnically and gender. There are two staff members, one male, one female, who share jokes and comments with sexual innuendos, very loudly and with great enjoyment. You are uncomfortable with the comments and can tell some of your colleagues are as well. Attempts to stop the comments have been met with statements to “lighten up!” How do you deal with this?
3. During your job orientation, you notice that your new employer and staff are using an outdated blood pathogen standard. How would you go about discussing this with her or him?
4. At your workplace, you feel that you are required to complete more duties than your co-workers. Here is an example: the last 3 days I worked, I had to complete all the Quality Improvement sheets. It makes me feel frustrated. My co-workers have not done any QI sheets for over a week. How would you address this with your co-workers or with your supervisor?

Answer 1

Que:1. You are a surgical technologist. One of the anesthesiologists you work with makes rude comments about the bodies of the patients once they are anesthetized and uncovered. In your frame of reference, this is highly disrespectful, whether the patient can hear the comments or not. How do you resolve this?

Answer:

Surgical technologists are allied health professionals working as a part of the surgical care team. They know aseptic and sterilizing techniques which are mandatory in the operating room and the surgical field.

All health professionals are bound with the principles of the Codes of Ethics. This includes honesty, autonomy, beneficence, respect, and justice while practicing in each patient. The Health Specialist should ethically conduct all these principles regardless of any circumstances. They must display professional behavior avoiding the use of derogatory language, violence, bigotry, racism, harassment, inappropriate sexual activities, or communications in person or through the use of technology and other means.

In such a given case, if the anesthesiologist is violating principles of ethics, we must make him understand about respecting patient's privacy and encourage him/her for doing ethical practice. This is the only way to solve such conflicts in a calm way.

Que:2. You work in a large billing office. The office staff is very diverse, both ethnically and gender. There are two staff members, one male, one female, who share jokes and comments with sexual innuendos, very loudly and with great enjoyment. You are uncomfortable with the comments and can tell some of your colleagues are as well. Attempts to stop the comments have been met with statements to “lighten up!” How do you deal with this?

Answer:

When we work in a diverse environment, due to different perspectives of people belonging to different religions and races, we faced multiple issues with our colleagues. In such a case, it is very important for every coworker to respect everyone's perspective and maintaining a good collaboration for a healthy environment. If someone is creating an uncomfortable environment for workers like mentioned in the above case, we must stop that person right there. In the given case, an attempt to stop such vulgar comments resulted in statements to lighten up. This is clearly an example of a violation of one worker's views to maintain a calm environment. If coworker continues to behave the same even after informing about such comments, then we must approach our team leader for maintaining calmness. Or you can advise him to share such comments in a way that no one would be able to listen to.

Que:4. At your workplace, you feel that you are required to complete more duties than your co-workers. Here is an example: the last 3 days I worked, I had to complete all the Quality Improvement sheets. It makes me feel frustrated. My co-workers have not done any QI sheets for over a week. How would you address this with your co-workers or with your supervisor?

Answer: While working in any office, you must be treated equally by your coworkers and supervisor without any discrimination if you are qualified at the same level. You must approach your supervisor smartly for discussing the workload shared by him and other workers and should ask him for equal opportunity.

Que:3. During your job orientation, you notice that your new employer and staff are using an outdated blood pathogen standard. How would you go about discussing this with her or him?

Answer:

When you observed that your new employer is using outdated blood pathogen standard i.e that prescribes guidelines to protect workers against the health hazards caused by bloodborne pathogens, you approach towards them smartly asking about blood pathogen standard details like which organization format(OSHA) they are using, or about the updated version, and discuss the risk if not followed properly. If they accept it is an outdated standard, encourage them to use updated blood pathogen standards discussing risks using outdated standards.If there is another problem with using outdated standard then try to rule out that issues like funds issues.

I hope our explanations are clear enough to solve your doubts. If you like our explanations, encourages us by giving thumbs up.