Nurse-physician collaboration: a descriptive study

The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature of nurse-physician collaboration using four indicators (power-control, practice spheres, concerns, and goals) in a random mail survey of registered nurses (N = 59) and physicians (N = 67) in a midwestern metropolitan county. Subjects completed a nurse or physician communication scale, an adaptation of the Weiss and Davis Collaborative Practice Scales, a practice spheres, and a goals checklist. Nurses and physicians were homogeneous on the power-control indicator, (chi 2 = .3(3), p = .98) and concern indicator (chi 2 = 7.2(4), p = .13). Nurses and physicians were inconsistent in their perceptions of responsibilities for practice spheres and patient goals. Relationships of demographic variables to collaboration indicators supported profiles of nurses and physicians who may be less collaborative.