Date of Award

5-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Nursing

Abstract

Physicians and nurses are major members and central to the healthcare team, thus, it is reasonable to advocate for collaboration between these two disciplines. However, prior to this advocacy, it is essential to identify perceptions of collaboration among nurses and physicians before any possible interventions can be implemented. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare perceptions of nurse-physician collaboration among nurses and physicians in rural and urban hospital settings, settings that have not received prior research.

Thomas' conceptual model for collaboration guided this study. This model suggests a person uses one of five modes in resolving conflict: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating and can be utilized to study interpersonal problem solving behavior.

A nonrandom, convenience sample was utilized and included 19 nurses and 5 physicians working in rural hospitals and 25 nurses and 23 physicians working with medical-surgical patients in urban hospitals. Nurses and physicians were given one survey titled either “Nurse Perception of Nurse-Physician Collaboration” or “Physician Perceptions of Nurse-Physician Collaboration”. Each survey consisted of two tools, the Collaborative Behavior Scale (CBS) Part 1 and the Collaborative Practice Scale (CPS), which is composed of two separate scales—one for nurses and one for physicians. Demographic information was also included along with two open-ended questions. The tools measured the extent nurses and physicians perceive that nurse-physician collaboration exists in their work setting and the perceived use of collaborative practice behavior by nurses and physicians.

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe and synthesize data for this study. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to produce statistical results. A Mann-Whitney test showed no statistically significant difference how rural physicians and nurses perceive collaboration exists in their hospital setting. A statistically significant difference was shown between how urban physicians and nurses perceive collaboration exists in their hospital setting. No statistically significant difference was shown between how participants in rural and urban settings perceive collaboration exists in their work setting. There was also no statistically significant difference in how rural physicians and nurses perceive the use of collaborative practice behaviors, however, there was a statistically significant difference in how urban physicians and nurses perceive the use of collaborative practice behaviors in their work setting. A Mann-Whitney test showed no statistically significant difference between how participants in rural and urban settings perceive the use of collaborative practice behaviors by nurses and physicians in their work settings. There were no statistically significant differences in the demographic variables and how participants perceive that collaboration exists in their work setting and also how participants perceive that collaborative practice behaviors are used in their work setting.

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