Background: Conflicts occur in intensive care units (ICUs), and an international multicentre study conducted in 2008, including 323 ICUs from 24 European countries, confirmed the occurrence of this phenomenon. There are no data in Poland. The aim of the study was to analyse the frequency of the occurrence of conflicts in ICUs in Polish hospitals, and their most frequent sources. Methods: The study was based on an original questionnaire performed in 12 ICUs in the Pomeranian Voivodship. The respondents were asked questions regarding the frequency, type, and lines of conflicts between employees, as well as potential causes of conflicts. Results: Completed surveys were received from 232 employees, including 79 doctors and 153 nurses. The phenomenon of occurrence of conflicts was confirmed by about 30% of the staff, providing answer that conflicts occur "often". About 43% of staff estimated that conflicts "sometimes" occur and 25% chose the answer "rarely". Analysis of the answers made it possible to identify the most common potential causes of conflict. Conclusions: The main sources of conflicts in ICUs appear to be external factors such a financial issues and physical overload. The hospital policy and the health policy of the state are also important. The perceived conflicts require careful and constant monitoring. The frequency of hidden conflicts requires thorough assessment of their impact on the quality of work.

Background: Tattoo is becoming a more and more common form of body decoration of people from representatives of various professions.The aim of this study was: what is the opinion of university students about medical staff having visible tattoos. Material and methods: The study was conducted among the students of four universities in Gdańsk. The questionnaire contained questions about the acceptance of visible tattoos in people working in medical professions. The respondents were also asked about their attitudes to tattoos as a form of body decoration and whether they had tattoos themselves. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software. Results: Filled-in questionnaires were obtained from 676 respondents, including 477 students of the medical university and 199 students of non-medical universities. The students who have tattoos themselves accept visible tattoos in healthcare professionals to a significantly greater extent (92%) than those who do not have tattoos, but the acceptance of visible tattoos in healthcare professionals in this group turned out to be very high too (75%). The respondents most readily accepted a visible tattoo on the skin of a laboratory diagnostician (75%). Conclusions: University students, regardless of their university profile, consider a visible tattoo as a completely acceptable phenomenon in healthcare professionals.