Attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration: a cross-cultural study of male and female physicians and nurses in the United States and Mexico.

BACKGROUND

Inter-professional collaboration between physicians and nurses, within and between cultures, can help contain cost and insure better patient outcomes. Attitude toward such collaboration is a function of the roles prescribed in the culture that guide professional behavior.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study was to test three research hypotheses concerning attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration across genders, disciplines, and cultures.

METHOD

The Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration was administered to 639 physicians and nurses in the United States (n = 267) and Mexico (n = 372). Attitude scores were compared by gender (men, women), discipline (physicians, nurses), and culture (United States, Mexico) by using a three-way factorial analysis of variance design.

RESULTS

Findings confirmed the first research hypothesis by demonstrating that both physicians and nurses in the United States would express more positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration than their counterparts in Mexico. The second research hypothesis, positing that nurses as compared to physicians in both countries would express more positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration, was also supported. The third research hypothesis that female physicians would express more positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration than their male counterparts was not confirmed.

CONCLUSIONS

Collaborative education for medical and nursing students, particularly in cultures with a hierarchical model of inter-professional relationship, is needed to promote positive attitudes toward complementary roles of physicians and nurses. Faculty preparation for collaboration is necessary in such cultures before implementing collaborative education.