Nurse physician collaboration

Includes bibliographical references (pages [63]-66)This cross-sectional exploratory survey aimed to identify the extent to which nurses and physicians collaborate in their work setting and how facilities encourage or discourage nurse-physician collaboration. The Collaborative Practice Scales (CPSs) were mailed to a statewide random sample; 64 registered nurses and 63 physicians participated. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVAs, 1-tests and correlation coefficients were used to analyze the quantitative data. Physicians who worked in the suburbs had significantly lower collaboration scores than those working in rural and urban areas (p=.034). There was a strong negative correlation between years of nurses? work experience and their degree to which they asserted professional expertise and opinion (p=.027). Physicians? age was inversely correlated with their seeking consensus with nurses on patient care (p=.045). Nurses and physicians described teamwork and joint meetings as ways in which facilities encouraged collaboration. A major impediment to collaborative practice cited by nurses and physicians was nursing administration.M.S. (Master of Science