Abstract
BackgroundCollaboration between physicians and nurses is critical. However, a limited number of studies have provided insights into the status of physician–nurse collaboration in truth disclosure.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted using an electronic questionnaire among Chinese nurses who attended a provincial conference. The Nurse–Physician Collaboration Scale was administered to nurses to assess the collaboration in truth disclosure from their perspective. A multiple-choice question was asked to assess the perceived difficulties in truth disclosure. Descriptive statistics, univariate, and multiple stepwise regression analyses were performed to evaluate physician–nurse collaboration in truth disclosure.ResultsA total of 287 nurses completed the survey, and 279 of them reported that they had carried out truth disclosures among patients. The average score for physician–nurse collaboration in truth disclosure was 3.98 ± 0.72. The majority of nurses (73.1–81%) responded positively to different dimensions of collaboration in truth disclosure. The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that seniority (B = − 0.111, 95% confidence interval [CI] = − 0.167−− 0.055, p < 0.001) and frequency of truth disclosure (B = 0.162, 95%CI = 0.076–0.249, p < 0.001) were the only two factors associated with collaboration in truth disclosure between physicians and nurses. The most common barrier perceived by nurses was fear of patients’ negative emotions or their suicide attempts after truth telling.ConclusionsMost nurses responded positively to physician–nurse collaboration in truth disclosure. Various difficulties existed in the practice of truth-telling collaboration. Further studies are required to test the potential interventions to promote cooperation between nurses and physicians in truth disclosure.
Highlights
Collaboration between physicians and nurses is critical
All patients need to undergo the process of diagnosing, treatment, and eventually the terminal stage of certain diseases during their lifetime, and medical personnel must face the issue of disclosing diagnoses and disease prognosis
As our study focused on collaboration in patients’ truth telling, we excluded respondents who never implemented truth telling
Summary
A limited number of studies have provided insights into the status of physician–nurse collaboration in truth disclosure. According to the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Medical Practitioners, medical personnel should disclose the truth to the patients and their families, but they are obligated to pay attention so as to avoid adverse consequences of telling the truth in clinical practice [1]. Telling the truth in mainland China is not as optimistic. Under traditional cultural and medical contexts there, most physicians first inform patients’ families of the diagnosis and follow the families’ willingness to decide whether to reveal the truth to patients [2]. As most families would like to hide the truth to protect the patients from psychological harm or burden, less than half of the patients know their exact diagnosis, especially cancer patients [1]
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