Effect of Nurse-Physician Teamwork in the Emergency Department Nurse and Physician Perception of Job Satisfaction

Introduction: Research studies in the military and aviation demonstrated that teamwork is essential to safety. However, there were limited studies dealing with the practice of teamwork between nurses and physicians in the emergency departments (EDs). Aim: The aim of this cross-sectional, quasi-interventional study was to compare nurses and physicians (staff) who worked in the interventional group emergency departments and those who worked in the control group emergency departments on the effect of teamwork on staff job satisfaction. Methodology: Data were collected over a three-year span (2009-2011) for a seven-day period in each participating hospital emergency departments using Revised Nurse Work Index, a four-point (1 to 4) Likert-type scaled instrument. Primary investigator and trained research assistants distributed surveys to ED staff who agreed to participate in the study. Completed surveys were returned into a locked box. Result: Staff who worked in the interventional group emergency departments showed significantly higher levels of staff job satisfaction associated with improved practice of teamwork (p<0.0001) than their counterparts who worked in the control group emergency departments which had no practice of teamwork. Discussion: Staff who worked in the interventional group EDs worked together and participated as equal partners in patient care leading to improved interpersonal relationships and suppression of hierarchical status among the members of both professions, however, this condition was not present in the control group. Conclusion: Active teamwork practice was associated with an increased perception of higher levels of staff’s perception of job satisfaction in the staff who worked in the interventional group EDs compared with those who worked in the control group EDs.