Gender issues in physician-nurse collaboration in healthcare teams: Findings from a cross-sectional study.

AIMS: The aims of the study were (a) to assess whether the proportion of female nurses and female physicians in a given unit influences the attitude of collaboration between nurses and physicians as reported by nurses, and (b) to examine how these two dimensions interact to influence attitudes towards cooperation. BACKGROUND: Available studies have documented that gender influences the collaboration between physicians and nurses, but no have explored the influence of specific combinations-such as a high proportion of female nurses and a high proportion of female physicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving 700 nurses working in 36 hospital units in Italy. The validated Italian version of the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration was used. A three stages hierarchical linear regression was performed by entering: (a) the control variables at the individual and at the unit levels, (b) the proportion of female nurses and physicians and (c) the two-way interaction. RESULTS: A total of 430 nurses participated; the average Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration total score was 48.64 ± 5.27. At the second and third stages of the hierarchical linear regression model (explaining 12.8% and 14.1% of the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration variance, respectively), having more female RNs as staff (model two: ß = 0.61, p =< .1; model three: ß = 0.69, p =< .05) was significantly associated with higher Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration scores; differently, higher physician-nurse ratios (model two: ß = -4.09, p =< .05; model three: ß = -4.54, p =< .01), and more female physicians (model two: ß = -1.06, p =< .05; model three: ß = -1.29, p =< .01) were associated with lower Jefferson Scale of Attitudes towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration scores. CONCLUSION: There is a decreased collaboration as reported by nurses when predominantly male nursing teams interact with teams with more female physicians. However, in units lead by female physicians, having more female members among the nursing team, ensures increased attitudes of collaboration as reported by nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: With the increasing proportion of female physicians and male nurses, unit mangers should be prepared to manage their influence on interprofessional cooperation.

Non-nursing tasks as experienced by nursing students: Findings from a phenomenological interpretative study.

BACKGROUND: During their clinical learning experience, students are exposed to the nursing profession as a powerful structural reality, experiencing the so-called professional socialisation, a process recognised as the basis of professional identity. Inside this process, students progressively acknowledge their professional identity as being composed of several competencies and, among these, also non-nursing tasks. OBJECTIVES: To explore non-nursing tasks in the context of nursing students' clinical learning experiences. DESIGN: An interpretative phenomenological study design was performed and carried out in 2016. The COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative (COREQ) research principles were used in reporting study methods and findings. SETTING: Two Italian Bachelor of Nursing degree programmes located in Northern Italy. PARTICIPANTS: Students attending their nursing programmes who a) had successfully passed one or more theoretical examinations; b) had one or more clinical learning experiences in varied contexts (e.g. hospital, community); c) were attending the 1st, 2nd or 3rd year, and d) were willing to participate, were interviewed with an open-ended, face-to-face, audio-recorded interview. METHODS: A thematic analysis was performed. RESULTS: Participating students (n = 18) were between 20 and 25 years old and were attending the 1st to the 3rd (and final) academic year. Non-nursing tasks were experienced by them according to three main themes: a) "Being out of the scope of the learning experience," b) "Being forced by external and internal forces," and c) "Dealing with mixed outcomes by looking for a compromise." All students have reported learning to perform non-nursing tasks by shadowing clinical nurses and also practising these tasks by themselves. Internal and external forces prompted students to perform non-nursing tasks, which were recognised as having positive, negative, and neutral effects on themselves and on their learning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Non-nursing tasks are acquired since the beginning of the clinical experience, thus shaping the nursing students' professional identity. At the undergraduate nursing level, strategies should be implemented to prevent the phenomena that a) threaten the acquisition of more complex nursing competences expected by patients and society, and b) shape future generations to be flexible and to perform different tasks, included those below their role.