All Entries Tagged With: "nurse-physician collaboration"

Taking the pulse of nurse-physician relationships

Taking the pulse of physician relationships is a good starting point for change. Doing so allows you to dissect the current relationships in your facility and make sense of the problems you face. Five categories can be broken down to define the types of relationships:

1. Collegial: Relationships between the nurses and physicians have mutual respect and power. Because of this, both parties feel empowered. When both nurses and physicians have power, they are better able to recognize the value in each other’s education and experience. With this environment, physicians and nurses consult each other frequently and seek each other’s advice, to the full benefit of patients.
2. Collaborative: Physicians and nurses participate together in the plan of care to produce positive outcomes for patients. The nurses and physicians have a mutual respect for each other. The key difference is that the power is not equal between nurses and physicians. The power difference does not interfere with the working relationship, and both parties are able to work together for the benefit of the patient.
3. Teacher-student: The physician or the nurse takes on the role of mentor. Typically, the physician educates the nurse. Often, however, nurses are in a position to teach physicians what they have learned from their experiences.
4. Neutral: These kinds of relationships evoke only indifference. Such relationships originally cropped up in healthcare when, in an effort to increase productivity, hospitals decided to move patient charts from the main nursing station to outside patients’ rooms. Now, physicians can come to the floor, write orders, put up the yellow flag on the chart rack, and never speak to anyone.
5. Negative: Nurses report that negative patient outcomes occur more frequently when nurses interact with difficult physicians. After physicians establish a negative reputation for themselves, nurses will go out of their way to avoid them. The critical common thread in every disturbing physician-nurse interaction is that the patient loses.

How does your facility deal with difficult relationships between nurses and physicians?

Source: Speak Your Truth: Proven Strategies for Effective Nurse-Physician Communication

Nurses and their relationship with patients

As writers and editors for healthcare, there is a great deal of time spent writing about the realities of being a nurse today. But sometimes, our personal and professional lives cross paths and we get to experience the realities of nursing today from a firsthand perspective.

Recently, my personal and professional life intersected when I spent the day in and out of the hospital, interacting with nurses and physicians on different levels than I had expected.
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Set the tone for nurse-physician collegiality

by Kathleen Bartholomew, RC, RN, MN

Imagine that a nurse has come to you complaining about a physician who talked to him or her rudely and arrogantly. The nurse feels humiliated. The very next day, you see this physician on the unit. What do you do?

It is vital that nurse managers role model zero tolerance for any kind of disruptive, intimidating, or verbally abusive behavior. Research shows that 1-3% of physicians are disruptive, yet this group causes exponentially devastating effects on morale, retention, and patient safety (Rosenstein & O’Daniel, 2005). Managers must take the necessary actions to demonstrate to nurses and physicians the standard of acceptable behavior and set the tone for collegiality on the unit. [more]

Benchmarking report explores state of nurse-physician collaboration

The nurse-physician dynamic has been found to shape various aspects of the healthcare environment. Research has uncovered that nurse-physician collaboration can affect patient care, patient satisfaction, hospital costs, and turnover. But as a nurse, how do you see it affecting your facility?

HCPro, Inc., recently surveyed 67 nursing professionals in the healthcare industry about the issue of nurse-physician collaboration within facilities of various sizes and settings nationwide. Participants responded to questions about nurse-physician collaboration barriers, strategies facilities are using to improve nurse-physician collaboration, and the influence poor nurse-physician collaboration has on stress. Take a look at some of the results:

• 91% of nurses that rated their facility as having “excellent” nurse-physician communication came from organizations that employed fewer than 100 nurses
• 82% of nurses surveyed said positive steps have been taken at their facilities to create work environments with better nurse-physician collaboration
• 80% of nurses said poor nurse-physician collaboration brought stress to the workplace
• 75% of nurses admitted to knowing other nurses who have vacated positions due to poor nurse-physician collaboration

What are your first impressions of these results?

View the rest of the results from this benchmarking report

Don’t let Dr. Jekyll turn into Mr. Hyde

Is there a physician, possibly your medical director, who has been non-supportive behind your back?

You know who these people are. At a meeting or in front of your boss, they are supportive and, at times, encouraging of your work and efforts. But once the meeting is over and everyone goes their own way, they are completely different. You would think it was a “Jekyll and Hyde” experience!

This is not to take away from all the providers we collaborate with who are ethically strong and committed to being part of a team. This hot topic is not about them; we are grateful for strong collaboratives with many providers we work with.

But believe it or not, some people are unhappy when they see your successes. Now that I spurted that out, think about it. You already knew that, but most people won’t say it. You are that multi-tasking, confident, caring, empowering nurse leader and some folks out there want to burst your bubble.

How do they burst your bubble?

• Going behind your back and planting seeds among those who look up to you. What are they planting seeds for? They are hoping to grow their own cheerleaders and take your squad away from you.
• Relaying misinformation about what you said or wrote
• Discouraging staff from following policy or procedure
• Verbally defaming your ability to perform your role
• Identifying staff members vulnerable to getting on their bandwagon

How would you approach this professional? Or, if you have already faced a situation similar to this one, how did it go?