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The “Ladder of Inference” as a Conflict Management Tool: Working with the “Difficult” Patient or Family in Healthcare Ethics Consultations

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Abstract

Conflict resolution is a core component of healthcare ethics consultation (HEC) and proficiency in this skill set is recognized by the national bioethics organization and its HEC certification process. Difficult interpersonal interactions between the clinical team and patients or their families are often inexorably connected to the normative disputes that are the catalyst for the consult. Ethics consultants are often required to navigate challenging dynamics that have become entrenched and work with patient-provider or family-provider relationships that have already broken down. The first step in conflict resolution is diagnosing the source of the conflict. Because so many interpersonal and normative conflicts rest on misunderstanding and mischaracterization, the diagnosis of the problem requires untangling the actual positions and perspectives of the conflicting parties from the fallacious assumptions made about the parties’ respective positions and views. Developed in management science, the Ladder of Inference (LOI) is a diagnostic tool for assisting stakeholders in re-examining the process they used to form beliefs about others involved in the conflict. The LOI is a device that detects errors in reasoning, including implicit racial bias, that lead to false judgments and counterproductive responses to those judgments. The LOI is an instrument that can be used by ethics consultants to help resolve contentious bedside conflicts, but the LOI can also be employed as a teaching tool used by healthcare ethics consultants in training the clinical staff in how to avoid such conflicts in the first place.

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  1. Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 423 Guardian Dr., Blockley Hall Floor 14, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Autumn Fiester

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AF conceptualized and designed the project, drafted the initial manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

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Fiester, A. The “Ladder of Inference” as a Conflict Management Tool: Working with the “Difficult” Patient or Family in Healthcare Ethics Consultations. HEC Forum 36, 31–44 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-022-09476-w

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