Characteristics of‘Nurse-physician Collaboration' as Perceived by Nurses at an Emergency Care Centre in Japan

Background: Recently, as the concept of the team-based medical care spreads, positive nurse-physician collaboration has been linked to quality of care . While nurse-physician collaboration has been shown to have a large impact on acute medical care, in emergency care in Japan, little research has been performed. This study investigated the characteristics of ‘nurse -physician collaboration' perceived by nurses in Japan. Methods: This was a quantitative study performed by inventory survey, conducted on a sample of 1318 nurses from 32 emergency care centres in Japan. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability testing were conducted on the questionnaire. The analysis software used IBM SPSS Statistics (version 21). Results: Answers were provided by 461 people-425 women (92.19%) and 36 men (7.80%), with an average age of 34.3 years (SD: 8.0) and mean experience of 4.6 years (SD: 3.99). The construct validity of the tool was established using exploratory factor analysis with a promax rotation. Internal reliability was established using the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. The following six factors were clarified. 'Nurses and physician understanding each other conferring'. 'Nurses and physicians understand organisation management'. 'Physician uses showing nursing care'. 'Physician uses the idea of the nurse to treat the patient'. 'Nurse is concerned with the physician so that the situation improves', with Cronbach’s Alpha ranging from 0.94 to 0.89. Conclusion: The six factors were expressed at four sides. These were ‘Autonomous behaviour of nurses’ ‘Physicians’ attitude towards nursing’, ‘Physicians and nurses’ attitudes towards each other’, and ‘Nurses’ attitudes towards physicians’. Regarding their collaboration, there are still dependent-dominant relationships between nurses and physicians. To encourage the autonomous behaviour of nurses and to enhance practical nursing ability, the authors believe it is necessary to reform the education and legal systems.