Hi, my name is Heather Suleiman. I'm a trained mediator and conflict management consultant, and I'm here with my colleague Julia Minson. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. Julia is a decision scientist at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she has been conducting research on how people can have thoughtful, respectful, engaged conversations across disagreement. Together, we run a company called Disagreeing Better that provides training on effective disagreement based on behavioral science research. The goal of this course is to arm you with communication tools based on cutting-edge research in behavioral science. This content will help you improve your conversations with patients and colleagues who may disagree with you across a variety of topics and contexts. Disagreement is an inevitable part of healthcare because every decision is made with the input of other people, patients, families, and colleagues. However, when disagreement turns into conflict, the consequences can be disastrous. Patients are less likely to adhere to good medical advice, and for clinicians, conflict can lead to longer hours, uncomfortable confrontations, and ultimately more stress and burnout. In this course, we will discuss a series of empirically validated communication techniques to help you navigate disagreement more effectively and prevent conflict escalation. Recognizing the extreme time pressure most of you work under, we will focus on tools that are both effective and efficient. In fact, by managing disagreement better, we hope to cut down on the total time you spend engaging in stressful conversations. We will also give you some practice applying these ideas to your own experiences so that you become more reflective and analytical about the disagreements in every aspect of your life. To get started, please think of a recent disagreement with a patient that might have really troubled you. It could have been about a recommendation that you made that the patient did not want to follow, or a request that the patient made that you thought was not appropriate. So for example, you might have a patient who doesn't want to take the flu shot because they're concerned about the side effect. Alternatively, you might have a patient who repeatedly insists on receiving antibiotics for upper respiratory infections. Take a few seconds to write down the details of the disagreement so it comes back vividly into your mind. Okay, so now that we all have an example in mind, let's jump in. The very first ideas we're going to be thinking about are your goals in any disagreement. What are you trying to achieve, and how likely are you to achieve it?

Heather Suleiman

Julia Minson

Disagreeing Better

behavioral science research

healthcare communication