Abstract
BackgroundNurse–physician communication has been shown to have a significant impact on the job satisfaction and retention of staff. In areas where it has been studied, communication failure between nurses and physicians was found to be one of the leading causes of preventable patient injuries, complications, death and medical malpractice claims.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to determine perception of nurses and physicians towards nurse-physician communication in patient care and associated factors in public hospitals of Jimma zone, southwest Ethiopia.MethodsInstitution based cross-sectional survey was conducted from March 10 to April 16, 2014 among 341 nurses and 168 physicians working in public hospitals in Jimma zone. Data was collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire; entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 for analysis. Factor analysis was carried out. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, linear regression and one way analysis of variance were used. Variables with P-value < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.ResultsThe response rate of the study was 91.55%. The mean perceived nurse-physician communication scores were 50.88±19.7% for perceived professional respect and satisfaction, and 48.52±19.7% for perceived openness and sharing of patient information on nurse-physician communication. Age, salary and organizational factors were statistically significant predictors for perceived respect and satisfaction. Whereas sex, working hospital, work attitude individual factors and organizational factors were significant predictors of perceived openness and sharing of patient information in nurse-physician communication during patient care.ConclusionPerceived level of nurse-physician communication mean score was low among nurses than physicians and it is attention seeking gap. Hence, the finding of our study suggests the need for developing and implementing nurse-physician communication improvement strategies to solve communication mishaps in patient care.
Highlights
Nurse-physician communication is more than just exchanging of information in which common understanding across health care team is established [1, 2]
Current salary of participants has a positive effect on perceived respect and satisfaction with nurse-physician communication in patient care, whereas age of participants and organizational factors have a negative effect (Table 11)
The result of our study revealed that mean score of perceived professional respect and satisfaction (p = 0.03) and mean score of perceived openness and sharing of patient information (p = 0.002) among nurses and physicians working in referral hospital were less than those who were working at district level hospitals
Summary
Nurse-physician communication is more than just exchanging of information in which common understanding across health care team is established [1, 2]. It is described as a professional interaction, working together, shared decision making around health issues, formulating collaborative patient care plan in which the actual team’s performance is measured [3, 4]. To get the job done right, information need to be transferred in a clear and reliable way with respect and satisfaction It is what is said that matters, and the way it is communicated between nurse and physician [5]. In areas where it has been studied, communication failure between nurses and physicians was found to be one of the leading causes of preventable patient injuries, complications, death and medical malpractice claims
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