Collective Self-Esteem, Attitudes toward Collaboration, and Collaborative Practice Behaviors utilized by Nurses and Physicians

Background: Effective nurse-physician collaboration is essential to enhance satisfaction
among nurses, physicians, and patients, increase the quality of care, reduce costs, and
improve patient safety. Aim of the study: To assess the relationship between collective selfesteem,
attitudes toward collaboration, and collaborative practice behaviors utilized by nurses
and physicians in a surgical hospital. Subjects& methods: Research design: A descriptive
correlational study design was used in this study. Setting :This study was conducted in the
Surgical Hospital affiliated to Zagazig University Hospitals. Subjects: All staff nurses (n=400)
and all physicians (n=100) available at the time of data collection Tools of data collection :
Collective Self-Esteem Scale, Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Collaboration, and
Collaborative Practice Scale. Results: Findings revealed that nurse-to-physician collaboration
had the lowest percent mean score (61.29%). There was a strong positive correlation
between the total scores of nurse- to- nurse collaboration and both of nurses' attitudes toward
collaboration and nurses' collective self- esteem. There was a strong positive correlation
between nurse- to- physician collaboration and nurse's attitudes toward collaboration, nurse's
collective self-esteem, and- nurse- to nurse collaboration. However, nurses' attitudes toward
collaboration and collective self-esteem explain 85% of the variability in nurse- to-nurse
collaborative practice behaviors (NCPS-N), while, nurses' attitudes toward collaboration
explain about 90% of the variability in nurse- to-physician collaboration (NCPS-P).
Conclusion: There is a strong positive correlation between collective self-esteem, attitudes
toward collaboration, and collaborative practice behaviors in nurse-to-nurse, nurse-tophysician,
and in physician-to-physician interactions. The results also revealed that attitudes
toward collaboration and collective self-esteem were strong predictors in nurse-to-nurse and
in physician-to-physician collaboration, While attitudes toward collaboration was the only
predictor in nurse-to-physician interaction. Recommendations: Initiating and developing
mutually respectful inter-professional relationships between nurses and physicians through
inter professional education in their curriculum to increase understanding of complementary
roles of nurses and physicians.