Ethical components of a doctor's conflict competence: a review of current research

The subject of the research is the ethical components of a doctor's conflict competence within the professional interaction system "physician-patient." Conflict competence is viewed as an integrative quality of personality that is not limited to a set of communication techniques but is based on the doctor's deep understanding of the principles of bioethics, the ability for ethical reflection, and awareness of the moral foundations of their own actions. The study analyzes how adherence to ethical norms, the implementation of the principle of respecting the patient's autonomy through the practice of informed consent, and the readiness for partnership dialogue influence the emergence, prevention, and constructive regulation of conflicts. Particular attention is paid to the study of internal ethical determinants of professional behavior: the phenomenon of moral distress, which arises when a doctor confronts irresolvable conflicts of professional duty, and professional identity as an intrapersonal resource that defines the specialist's orientation towards patient-centered values, empathy, and tolerance for uncertainty in clinical practice. A review of scientific publications (2022–2026) in the databases eLibrary, CyberLeninka, and PubMed was conducted based on keywords reflecting the ethical issues of physicians' conflict competence. Theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, and systematization of data were employed. The novelty of the review lies in the systematization of contemporary research on the ethical components of conflict competence in physicians, which have previously been considered fragmentarily. Unlike the traditional approach, it is proposed to view conflict competence not merely as a set of communication skills but as an integrative quality that includes a physician's ability for ethical reflection. The study demonstrates that the key ethical components of conflict competence consist of three interconnected phenomena: moral distress, professional identity, and shared decision-making. It has been established that unresolved moral distress provokes the physician's defensive behavior strategies and emotional burnout, leading to dehumanization in communication. It has been proven that professional identity oriented towards patient-centered values serves as an intrapersonal resource for conflict prevention. It is justified that the model of shared decision-making implements the principle of informed consent as a mechanism for achieving genuine mutual understanding with the patient.