Attitudes toward Nurses-Physicians’ Collaboration among Undergraduate Nursing Students at University of Sulaimani

Abstract

Background: Effective collaboration and teamwork between doctors and nurses play a vital role in patient care and maintaining a positive atmosphere. Each team member brings their unique viewpoint when it comes to evaluating and devising a care strategy for a patient. It is only by working together and sharing information that suitable treatment plans can be formulated. The main objective of this study was to assess attitudes of undergraduate nursing students towards nurse-physician collaboration at the College of Nursing, University of Sulaimani. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted among 178 undergraduate nursing stratified random sampling to select the sample. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Attitudes of students were measured using Jefferson scale of attitudes towards nurse-physician Collaboration. Results summarized using descriptive and inferential statistics using mean, standard deviation and t-test. p <0.05 considered as significant. Nursing students exhibited favorable attitudes than with mean score of 51.9±3.53 and 47.49 and standard error of mean 0.474 and 0.931 respectively with p = 0.043. Students scored high on all subscales. However, statistically no significant differences were noted between students’ gender with doctors’ authority and caring versus curing, also between students’ interest in nursing career and caring versus curing. This study identified that nursing students demonstrated favorable attitudes regarding internship between nurses and physicians.