Nurse-Physician Collaborative Relationship on Nurses’ Self-Perceived Job Satisfaction in Ambulatory Care

Abstract

The dynamic restructuring of the healthcare environment from a primary acute care focus to an ambulatory care focus has prompted a migration of nurses to the ambulatory care setting. The predication of nursing job satisfaction is a complex process that has received little attention in the ambulatory care setting. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between the nurse-physician relationship and nurses' self-perceived job satisfaction in the ambulatory care setting. While study findings demonstrated there was no significant relationship between the nurse-physician relationship and nurses' self-perceived job satisfaction in the ambulatory care setting, it did confirm that registered nurses working in the ambulatory setting have a moderate level of job satisfaction. The lack of correlation between the nurse-physician relationship and job satisfaction may have been attributed to limitations such as a limited sample size and the nurses having a relationship with a smaller number of physicians in the ambulatory care setting. Recommendations to further understanding of the nurse-physician relationship included further descriptive studies of nurses working in the ambulatory care setting and further studies on job satisfaction of nurses.