Nurse-physician collaboration and its relationship to nurse job stress and job satisfaction

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the frequency that nurses and physicians believe they practice collaboratively and the frequency that nurses report job stress related to variables surrounding conflict with physicians. The study also compared nurse and physician responses to questions dealing with acceptance of a definition of collaborative practice, satisfaction with the degree of collaboration that is present in the test facility, and the significance of nurse/physician collaboration to the recruitment and retention of nurses. A proportionate sampling of 100 nurses and 50 physicians was selected randomly to participate in the study. A survey design was utilized which included; The Nursing Stress Scale and Nurse Collaborative Practice Scale (distributed to nurses) and The Physician Collaborative Practice Scale (distributed to physicians). Both groups were asked to complete demographic data sheets and respond to three independent questions concerning collaborative practice. Noteworthy findings of the study include that (a) conflict with physicians ranked third out of a total of seven stressful work related categories, (b) a significant correlation exists between the degree of dissatisfaction expressed by nurses concerning the present collaborative environment and the high degree of job stress resulting from nurse-physician conflict in the hospital setting, and (c) based upon self assessment, nurses report lower scores on collaborating with physicians than physicians report on collaborating with nurses. Implications of the study are presented and discussed and recommendations for further study are provided