Nurses' perceptions of their role and role conflicts

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Nursing
• Healthcare Team Dynamics
• Professional Role Perception

Background:

• Understanding nurses' professional role perceptions is crucial for effective interdisciplinary collaboration in rehabilitation settings.
• Role conflict among nurses can negatively impact team functioning and patient care.
• Assessing non-nurse healthcare professionals' expectations of the nursing role is vital for clarifying interprofessional boundaries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore certified general rehabilitation nurses' perceptions of their professional role and experiences with role conflict.
• To assess non-nurse healthcare professionals' expectations of the rehabilitation nurse's role.
• To identify the locus of control among various professions within rehabilitation teams and its effect on team dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Survey research design involving certified general rehabilitation nurses and non-nurse healthcare professionals.
• Assessment of nurses' professional role perceptions and role conflict experiences.
• Evaluation of non-nurse healthcare professionals' expectations of the nursing role and locus of control across professions.

Main Results:

• Rehabilitation nurses demonstrated a consistent perception of their professional role and how other professionals viewed it.
• Non-nurse healthcare professionals showed some unawareness of the expectations held by nurses for their own role.
• No significant differences in locus of control were found among team members, potentially fostering balanced team dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Consistent role perception among nurses is positive, but a gap exists in non-nurse professionals' understanding of nursing roles.
• Addressing the discrepancy in role expectations can enhance professional role clarity and interdisciplinary team effectiveness.
• The uniform locus of control suggests a foundation for equitable team dynamics, though further research into its impact is warranted.