Medical team satisfaction with nurse practitioner clinical performance

The nurse practitioner (NP) system aims to enhance medical care quality, prevent and reduce human errors in medical care, and instill a cooperative spirit in medical teams. Nationally and international studies indicate a high level of satisfaction with the NP system from patients and their family. However, the expectations and satisfaction of medical teams with NP clinical performance have not yet been clearly delineated. In this research, a sample of 255 physicians, nurses, and other medical staff were recruited from a medical center in central Taiwan. Questionnaires given to this sample addressed the three major aspects of: "NP System", "clinical practice content", and "performance of clinical professional competency". The Content Validity Index (CVI) of the questionnaire was .8981, and Cronbach's reliability values for the three aspects were .88, .94, and .89, respectively. Results indicate that physicians and nurses have a significant difference of opinions with regard to the three aspects addressed. Physicians have higher recognition and satisfaction of the "NP system" and "performance of clinical professional competency". Nurses tend to see "clinical practice content" as the major aspect. In conclusion, physicians and other medical staff had very positive attitudes towards the NP system and believed the clinical competency performance could be improved.