November 21, 2020, 09:30 - 10:30
Physicians and nurses perceptions and attitude towards effective communication and collaboration in ACGME-I pediatrics inpatients program in Qatar
Dr. Manasik Hassan, Mr. Ahmed Duhair, Dr. Ahmed ould Veten, Dr. Hatim Abderhaman, Dr. Ahmed Alhammadi
Mhassan17@hamad.qa
Background:
Effective communication between physicians and nurses is associated with better quality of care to patients, increased teamwork and job satisfaction for both. In Qatar, the Pediatrics Department at Hamad Medical Corporation is a 50-bed tertiary care facility, but no data on effective communication and collaboration among health care providers at this facility are available in Qatar.
Objectives:
To explore and compare the perception and attitude of physicians and nurses toward proper communication and collaboration with each other and to highlight areas that needed the greatest opportunity for improvement.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was administered from September until November 2015 to the pediatricians and nurses on pediatrics inpatient wards at Hamad Medical Corporation, the main tertiary hospital in the state of Qatar. The questionnaire included details of demographics, perceptions and attitudes towards proper communication and collaboration in daily clinical practice. Questions offered objective answer choices utilizing the 4-point Likert scale that can be used to perform statistical analysis.
Results / Outcomes / Improvements:
Out of 124 responses, 83 (67%) were pediatricians and 41(33 %) nurses. Almost (69%) of pediatricians stated that they enjoyed communication with nurses compared to (41.5%) of nurses (P < 0.012). Nearly (67.5%) of physicians had good communication with nurses compared to (44%) of nurses (P < 0.039). A small percentage (10%) of pediatricians stated that they share decisions with the nurses; similarly 5% from the nurses side (p< 0.172) in terms of putting a plan together before making decisions: pediatricians had (6%) agreement compared to nurses who specified (13%) (p < 0.11). Cooperation in decisions had nearly similar responses from the pediatricians side (14.5%) and the nurses side (14.6%) (p < 0.1).
Significance / Implications / Relevance:
Generally, this study showed that physicians and nurses share the same ideas about enjoying communication and collaboration among each other. As compared to nurses, physicians were more satisfied with their collaboration with nurses. Sharing decisions is a great area of concern as it represents a small percentage of positive results from both sides, which will be an intense area to work on. Creating a conducive environment with regard to improving the collaborative activities for all staff at the same time using environmental tools to work on nurse-physician relationships will represent a major task. Implementing job workshops, seminars on interpersonal and professional communication skills will be excellent tools to be used for improving collaboration and to increase effective communication among staffs. Finally, further study is proposed to identify physician-nurse relationships on a large scale by a qualitative study.