Teamwork in treating diabetes and hypertension in Israeli managed care organizations.
OBJECTIVE
This article aims to analyze existing and preferred labor divisions between physicians and nurses treating patients with hypertension and diabetes in managed care organizations.


METHODS
A mail survey was conducted in 2002/2003 among a representative sample of 743 physicians employed by Israel's largest managed care health plans (78 percent response rate). A telephone survey among a representative sample of 1,369 hypertensive or diabetic patients (77 percent response rate) was also used.


RESULTS
Findings reveal a conspicuous gap between actual labor division and what physicians perceive to be ideal. Possible reasons for this gap are discussed and strategies for facilitating collaboration, which would improve service quality as well as work life quality for both physicians and nurses.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides empirical data on the extent of nurse involvement in managed care organization chronic patient care, as well as comparing them to physicians' preferences regarding nurse involvement.
Gross
Revital
R
Bar-Ilan University and Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Jerusalem, Israel. revital@jdc.org.il
Tabenkin
Hava
H
Porath
Avi
A
Heymann
Anthony
A
Porter
Boaz
B
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires