Psychometric properties of an attitude scale measuring physician-nurse collaboration

This study examined the psychometric properties of an assessment tool for measuring attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. A survey addressing areas of responsibility, expectations, shared learning, decision making, authority, and autonomy was administered to first-year medical and nursing students. Factor analysis of the survey indicated that the survey measured four underlying constructs of shared education and collaborative relationships, caring as opposed to curing, nurse's autonomy, and physician's authority. A scale was developed in which 15 items of the survey with large factor loadings were included. The alpha reliability estimates of the scale for medical and nursing students were .84 and .85, respectively. The mean of the scale was significantly higher for nursing than medical students. Results supported the construct validity and reliability of the scale. This scale can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs developed to foster physician-nurse collaboration, and to study group differences on attitudes toward interpersonal collaboration.