Understanding Interdisciplinary Communication and Collaboration Among Physicians, Nurses, and Unlicensed Assistive Personnel

Abstract

The negative impact of medical errors on patient safety poses a major problem for health care providers. Since physicians, nurses, and unlicensed assistive personnel (UAPs) each provide a portion of patient care, coordination of the various treatments and interventions provided is critical to prevent errors and fragmentation of care. The significance of this qualitative phenomenology study is that it can provide information to enhance interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among physicians, nurses and UAPs, thereby positively impacting patient care outcomes. Semi-structured face-to-face, privately held individual interviews were conducted to determine how physicians, nurses and UAPs view their roles and each other’s role in patient care. Health care leaders can use the information from the study as a foundation for enhancing coordination of patient care. Study results suggest that physicians, nurses and UAPs must recognize and respect each other’s contributions to patient care and members of each discipline should be included in patient care decisions.