Nurse/physician collaboration: action research and the lessons learned

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nursing Research
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Nurse executives often promote collaborative practice, but innovations are rarely studied prospectively.
• Existing collaboration data primarily comes from correlational studies.
• Action research offers a suitable strategy for longitudinal intervention studies in dynamic healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an action research model in improving nurse/physician collaboration.
• To measure the impact of interventions on interdisciplinary teams within a hospital.
• To enhance the approach to outcome measurement for collaborative practice initiatives.

Main Methods:

• An action research pretest/posttest design was employed.
• Baggs' Collaboration and Satisfaction About Care Decisions instrument measured collaboration.
• The study included 87 pretest and 65 posttest registered nurses across medical-surgical and intensive care units.

Main Results:

• Intensive care unit (ICU) collaboration scores were higher than in prior research.
• No significant posttest differences were found in collaboration scores for ICU or medical-surgical nurses.
• A strong correlation was identified between reported collaboration levels and satisfaction with decision-making.

Conclusions:

• The study provides longitudinal data on nurse/physician collaboration using a validated instrument.
• It highlights challenges and benefits of conducting research in contemporary healthcare environments.
• Findings contribute to the literature on interprofessional collaboration in nursing and medicine.