Conclusion

The goal of this chapter was to review the contributions of communication scholarship to our understanding of the causes, conse­quences, and management of conflict in a vari­ety of health care delivery settings. Concluding thoughts regarding the utility of a commu­nication perspective for studying conflict in health care are presented around three themes that have been woven throughout this discus­sion (1) the challenge of ambiguity, (2) the challenge of power, and (3) the challenge of complexity. These themes are presented below in terms of their implications for research and practice.