Nurse Perceptions of Physician-Nurse Collaboration in the Home Health Setting: A Pilot Study

This quantitative, descriptive study surveyed 20 registered nurses in a single home health setting for the purpose of uncovering nurse attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. Particularly, the researcher was interested in whether the nurses held “positive” or “negative” attitudes. The data collection instrument was the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC). Study data was analyzed via means of descriptive and inferential statistics. Although non-significant, the findings of this study indicate that nurses in this particular home health setting demonstrated positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. Age and number of years in nursing practice had no effect on total scores on the JSAPNC. The type of nursing degree did not seem to have an effect on total scores. Trends showed that those with the baccalaureate and master’s in nursing showed more positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration than those with the diploma and associate degree. Nurses tended to demonstrate positive attitudes in each underlying factor category score of the JSAPNC, just as they did in total scores on the JSAPNC.