The level of collaboration amongst nurses in Turkey

This study was conducted to determine the level of collaboration amongst nurses in Turkey.

Collaboration amongst nurses is thought to increase nurse-physician collaboration and decrease medical mistakes. It has been connected with positive patient outcomes and increased job satisfaction for nurses. There are some studies on nurse-physician collaboration in Turkey, but nurse-nurse collaboration has not been measured before in this context. There are limited studies in the literature on nurse-nurse collaboration.

The sample of this study consisted of 859 nurses who work at one public hospital, one university hospital and four private hospitals in Turkey. The study was designed as descriptive and cross-sectional research. The data were collected using the nurse-nurse collaboration scale and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The nurse-nurse collaboration scale comprises five subdimensions: problem-solving, shared process, communication, coordination and professionalism. The cut-off value of the scale for minimum expected collaboration degree was determined as 2.5.

It was found that the total nurse-nurse collaboration level in the sample was 3.09, which is above minimum expected degree of collaboration (2.5). In regard to the subdimensions of the scale, the lowest mean score (2.97) was for problem-solving and the highest (3.20) was for professionalism. Graduate nurses' problem-solving, coordination, professionalism and cooperation skills were found to be higher than those of undergraduate nurses. Nurses employed under continuous employment contracts presented higher collaboration scores than those employed with annual, temporary contracts.

Regarding the results obtained in the study, although the Turkish nurses were collaborating at the minimum expected level, they can collaborate more. Improved collaboration between nurses will increase patient satisfaction and thus will have a favourable impact on patient safety.

Nurses who have a bachelor's or higher level degree should be hired, and nurses should be provided with job security in the form of a continuous employment contract to enhance nurse-nurse collaboration.