Medical students' views of the role of the nurse.

Problems of interprofessional relationships in the health care field were examined by asking medical students what experiences were important to the development of their views of nurses and nursing. First, field observations were made in nine hospitals affiliated with a large medical school. They were followed by individual tape-recorded, semi-structured interviews with 60 medical students randomly selected and stratified on the basis of year in the program and sex of the student. Ten males and five females from each of the 4 years comprised the sample. Analytic induction was used for data analysis and incorporated cross-classification within topical categories to quantitatively determine trends. Findings revealed that while students' views of the health care team tended to be general and broadly inclusive among first- and second-year students, fourth-year students more often described specific personnel who could contribute directly to a particular patients' treatment as defined by the patient's medical diagnosis. Over the 4 years of medical school, students' perception of the physician's role vis-à-vis the patient and the health care team became more specific, while their perception of the nurse's role became more vague and diffuse. Factors contributing to confusion between the roles of the medical student and the nurse are identified and discussed.