Changing attitudes among nurses and physicians: a step toward collaboration.
Nurse-physician collaboration is a major contributing factor in positive patient outcomes. A first step toward collaboration is an understanding of, and respect for, one another's roles. As part of a quality improvement project, we implemented a curriculum in which medical students "shadowed" nurses for 1 day and then measured the impact on their attitudes toward nurses' roles. Sixty-five students completed the program. Thirty students completed a validated survey instrument before and after the experience. Students demonstrated a trend toward improvement on the attitudes survey. Medical students highly valued the program and better appreciated nurses' roles.
Barrere
Cindy
C
Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury, CT, USA. cbarrere@wtbyhosp.chime.org
Ellis
Peter
P
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003237:Connecticut; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D006744:Hospital Bed Capacity, 100 to 299; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009736:Nursing Process; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D019555:Physician-Nurse Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000379:methods*