The Role of Mediation in Healthcare: A Path to Conflict Resolution and Improved Outcomes
A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Organizations, Systems, and Providers".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 September 2026 | Viewed by 2827
Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is well known that healthcare professionals are currently facing significant challenges in communicating with patients due to advancing technologies and increasing patient expectations. Inadequately managed conflicts can have a negative impact on all stakeholders, including healthcare facilities (through legal costs, staff turnover, and reduced productivity), staff (due to burnout, the deterioration of team relationships, and lower productivity), and patients (through medical errors, the deterioration of doctor–patient relationships, worse health outcomes, and a loss of trust in healthcare systems).
Mediation is one of the most important and successful methods of alternative resolution in such conflicts. It is a voluntary, flexible, and confidential process in which a third party (the mediator) aids the parties involved in the dispute in reaching a consensus without intervention by the court. The main role of the mediator is to help the parties clarify their positions, build their trust to enable them to discuss their problems, and lead the conversation toward resolving the conflict and reaching a consensus.
There are numerous reasons for using mediation in the healthcare sector: it is emotionally gentle and less expensive; it takes significantly less time to resolve disputes; it allows more open communication between the parties involved; and its flexibility makes it suitable for the dynamic, complex, and emotional nature of medical disputes. The most important requirements for patients during a conflict—an explanation of what happened, an apology from the doctor, information on how such situations will be avoided in the future, compensation that satisfies the affected patient, etc.—can be achieved through mediation, thus restoring patients’ trust and guaranteeing the best treatment results based on respectful physician–patient collaboration.
We are pleased to invite you to submit your articles exploring the benefits of mediation.
This Special Issue will focus on applications of mediation in the field of healthcare. Original research articles and reviews are welcome, and research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Cases where mediation is applied to achieve out-of-court settlements;
- Studies on the practical benefits of applying mediation in the healthcare sector;
- Studies revealing stakeholder options regarding the application of mediation;
- Studies on the factors leading to the need for mediation;
- Review articles related to good practice in applying mediation.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Tsonka Miteva-Katrandzhieva
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mediation
- alternative conflict resolution
- physician–patient agreement
- patient care improvement
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