Abstract:
Background: Ineffective physician-nurse collaboration has been shown to cause work
dissatisfaction among nurses and physicians and compromised the quality of patient care.
Inter-professional collaboration between nurses and physicians is crucial for improving
patient outcomes and for delivering quality health services.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the attitude of nurses towards nursephysician
collaboration and associated factors at Gondar University Comprehensive
Specialized Hospital, Northwest, Ethiopia, 2019.
Methodology: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 nurses
from March 10 to April 10, 2019. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the
representative samples. Relevant data were obtained through self-administered attitude
based questionnaires, adapted from Jefferson Scale on Attitude towards Nurse-Physician
Collaboration. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. Variables with “P-value”
less than 0.2 in the bivariable analysis were entered into multivariable logistic regressions to
control confounders. In multivariable logistic regressions “P-values” ? 0.05 were considered
statistically significant and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval was used to
determine the strength of association between dependent and independent variables
Result: A total of 402 participants were enrolled with a response rate of 95.3%. The median
age of the respondents was 29 (IQR±4) years. This study showed that nearly fifty percent
{47.8% (95%, CI=42.8-52.0)} of participants had favorable attitude. The study revealed that
the odds of having favorable attitude was 1.65 and five times higher among nurses having
the educational level of bachelor and masters degree as compared to diploma nurses
{AOR=1.65, 95% (CI= 1.577, 12.834)} and {AOR=5.11, 95% (CI=1.522, 14.934)}
respectively. Participants who didn’t experience conflict in their workplace {AOR=2.53, 95%
(CI=1.581, 4.035)} had nearly threefold increase to have a favorable attitude towards nursephysician
collaboration.
Conclusion
and Recommendation: This study showed that there is a major attitudinal gap
that needs intervention. Therefore, promoting effective collaboration between nurses and
physicians is vital for quality patient care.
Keywords: Attitude, Collaboration, Nurse, Nurse-physician
