Nurse-physician communication: perceptions of nurses at an Army medical center

The purposes of this study were to describe nurses' perceptions of their communication with physicians, as related to the openness of the communication, the accuracy of the information communicated, and the timeliness of the interaction; and further, to determine if specific demographic characteristics of nurses are associated with perceptions of positive communication. The sample (N = 112) consisted of professional nurses working on one of nine inpatient units at a major military medical center. Shortell's ICU Nurse-Physician Communication subscale was used to measure the nurses' perceptions of the degree to which openness, accuracy, and timeliness described their communication with physicians. Overall findings were that the nurses perceived a poor quality of communication between themselves and the physicians with whom they interacted. Results from this study further indicated that the perceived quality of nurse-physician communication was not related to a nurse's educational level, length of nursing experience, or length of time assigned to a specific unit. Finally, findings provided no evidence that perceived levels of nurse-physician communication were greater among permanent staff than temporary nursing staff, or in intensive care units versus general ward areas.