Investigation of the Opinions of Nurses with regard to Communication and Interdisciplinary Collaboration − A Pilot Study

Background: Τhe necessity for and the efficiency of interdisciplinary collaboration among healthcare staff for the coverage of the increased needs of patients is a topic of great concern. Aim: Investigation of the opinions of nurses regarding communication between colleagues and interdisciplinary collaboration. Method: The “Communication and Collaboration among Physicians and Nurses Questionnaire” was used in order to collect data from 200 hospital nurses. The questionnaire included demographic data and 28 questions categorized into two subgroups that measure the opinions of nurses about their collaboration and communication with doctors (13 questions) and their participation in decision-making (15 questions). Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 16.0. Results: The majority of nurses in the study (60.4%) expressed interest in communication with doctors, despite their experience of not being informed appropriately and in a timely fashion (20.8%). A fairly high percentage of nursing staff (43.2%) considered that they did not participate in the decision-making, and especially those nurses with less experience (<10 years) mentioned that they felt less important in their patients’ care (r=0.50). Nurses who were working in wards with a small number of patients reported that there was a good collaboration between nursing and medical staff (r=0.008), and that the doctors accepted the nurses’ opinion about patients’ treatment and involved them in decision-making (r=0.041). In total, however, 50% of the nurses noted that the doctors did not evaluate their work appropriately, and did not accept their opinions and that they did not take into account their family situation (65.9%) and their personal needs (69%). The nurses with less experience were more distrustful regarding the doctors’ confidence in the quality of their work and their managerial skills (r=0.012). Conclusions: Today’s nurses should increase the level of communication with the medical staff and enhance their decision-making skills in order to improve the quality of care of patients in hospital.