Description/Overview: Physicians and nurses are major drivers in healthcare in the United States (US) and across the globe and represent professions who are valued by the public. Nurses are held in high regard and again were named as the most trustworthy profession in the 2010 Gallup poll outdistancing physicians by over 10 points. Because of the importance of their role and their high visibility in the healthcare delivery system, the public assumes that nurses and physicians work well together due to their shared vision, accountability and commitment to excellence. Collaboration between physicians and nurses is a key ingredient to quality, safety and cost efficient and effective care. Efforts to foster collaboration between these major groups have yielded variable results. Studies on nurse doctor collaboration provide evidence of the significant effect of collaboration on patient care outcomes and on the engagement of staff in the work environment. This presentation will report on a United States study of physicians and nurses using The Jefferson Attitude Scale toward Physician Nurse Collaboration and compare it with studies using the same scale with physicians and nurses in Croatia and Armenia. The discussion will outline the differences and similarities and address how these groups in the US and abroad can use the results to build new partnerships and improve communication and care in the work environment. In addition, the discussion will address how these strategies align with the 2010 Institute of Medicine report on the “Future of Nursing” key message for nurses and physicians to engage themselves in the redesign of the health care system.

Learner Objective #1: Describe and discuss key similarities and differences in nurse autonomy and physician authority in the United States and selected Eastern European countries and compare results.

Learner Objective #2: Understand strategies that can be used to enrich collaboration between physicians and nurses and improve the work environment.