Interprofessional collaboration between nurses and doctors for treating patients in surgical wards

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Nursing and Medical Practice

Background:

• Interprofessional collaboration is crucial for enhancing patient safety.
• Fragmentation in education and practice creates challenges for nurse-doctor collaboration.
• Existing research highlights difficulties in achieving effective teamwork between healthcare professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore nurses' and doctors' experiences with interprofessional collaboration.
• To understand collaboration dynamics in patient observation and treatment on surgical wards.
• To identify barriers and facilitators for interprofessional teamwork in a surgical setting.

Main Methods:

• Explorative qualitative design utilizing semi-structured focus group interviews.
• Involved 11 nurses and 7 doctors from surgical wards in a Norwegian hospital.
• Data analyzed using systematic text-condensation.

Main Results:

• Key themes identified: Organization and culture (lack of meeting places, hierarchy).
• Communication challenges (limited professional discussion, tool usage).
• Trust and respect issues (blurred responsibilities, recognition).

Conclusions:

• Nurses and doctors desire closer collaboration for patient care.
• Organizational limitations, including time pressure and few interprofessional meeting opportunities, impede collaboration.
• Addressing these barriers is essential for improving interprofessional teamwork and patient safety.