Collaboration between nurses and physicians in an Indonesian Emergency Department

Positive collaboration between nurses and physicians is essential in emergency practice because it has a significant relationship with the quality, safety, accountability, and responsibility of care. The aim of this study was to examine nurses' and physicians' attitudes towards collaboration in the Emergency Department in the Indonesian context.

The study was a comparative study using a modified Jefferson Scale of Attitude towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration. Data were collected from 47 nurses and 24 physicians of one of 25 general hospitals in Malang, Indonesia, by anonymous survey.

Emergency nurses had significantly more positive attitudes towards collaboration than emergency physicians (P<0.001). Emergency nurses had significantly higher scores in three of four domains of the instrument, "physician dominance", "nurse autonomy", and "caring as opposed to curing". The effects of gender, age, and education on nurses' and physicians' attitude towards collaboration were not statistically significant. However, experience in the Emergency Department of the general hospital was significantly related to participants' attitudes towards collaboration (P=0.023).

The findings of this study indicate that attitudes towards collaboration among the two professions should be enhanced. Inter-professional education and promotion of teamwork may be solutions to improve the relationship, not only between nurses and physicians, but also other healthcare providers.