The Impact of Physician-Nurse Communication on Nurses’ Satisfaction at Tertiary Referral Hospital Critical Care Unit

Nurses’ satisfaction increase nurses’ productivity, efficiency and retention but there are gap in the literature in particular about nurses’ satisfaction about their communication with physicians. The main aim of this study was to look at the impact of physician-nurse communication on nurses’ satisfaction from nurses’ perspectives. Methods : The researcher applied a Nurse-Physician Questionnaire for data collection with 55 nurses who works at Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurses at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City in Riyadh. The entire questionnaire consists of 47 scales used to measure variables that affect relationships between nurses and physicians. All items of communication were analyzed using ANOVA test comparing the mean of agreement level of different communication domains with satisfaction level. Results: Response rate for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurses was 75% with more than 50% of the particapted nurses were satisfied with their communication with physicians and only less than  20% were not satisified. The nurses were all females with more than 10 years of nursing experience, the majorities were expatriates and their ages ranged between 30 and 40 years old. Conclusion: It is concluded from the results that the majority of nurses who work in hospital intensive unit were satisfied with their communications with physicians who work at the same department, this important as this communication may enhance patients care as well as nursing retention at work. This study benefits the nursing profession by adding knowledge with regard to nurses’ job satisfaction with their communication with physician in hospitals’ critical care unit.