Nurses’ attitudes towards nurse-physician collaboration, their collaborative behaviours and associated demographic, organisational and relational factors in nurses working in the acute care context in Ireland and the United States of America

Background: Despite collaborative practice being promoted as essential for the delivery of safe, quality patient care in acute hospitals in the 21st Century little evidence exists of collaboration in practice. However, the empirical evidence suggests that healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards nurse-physician collaboration are overwhelmingly positive. Aim: The aim of this research was to investigate the attitudes of nurses in Ireland and the United States of America (US) towards nurse-physician collaboration, nurses’ collaborative behaviours and associated demographic, organisational and relational factors. Design: The study design was descriptive correlational and cross-sectional. The sample comprised of 191 nurses in Ireland and 161 nurses in the US. The Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC) was used to study nurses’ attitudes. The Nurse-Physician Collaboration Scale (NPCS) was used to investigate nurses’ collaborative behaviours. A new scale, based on D’Amour et al.’s (2008) work, was developed and used to investigate organisational and relational factors. Findings: Nurses in both groups were highly educated and were experienced. Both samples reported positive attitudes towards nurse-physician collaboration and moderate levels of collaborative behaviours. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups for both attitudes (Ireland 3.58, SD 0.29; US 3.67, SD 0.24; p = 0.001) and behaviours (Ireland 2.58 SD 0.53; US 2.41, SD 0.73; p=0.014). No relationship was found between nurses’ attitudes towards collaboration and their collaborative behaviours (Irish sample r 0.077, p 0.297; US sample r 0.062, p 0.439) in either sample. Organisational and relational factors explained over 20% of the variation in collaborative behaviour for both groups and this finding was statistically significant. Conclusion: This study supports earlier findings of published research. What was surprising however was that no correlation was found between nurses’ attitudes towards collaboration and their collaborative behaviours in either sample. Further investigation is warranted around the processes surrounding collaboration in particular the organisational and relational factors which affect collaboration