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Nurse-physician cooperation leads to improved patient outcomes

The rate of heath care-associated infections is linked with nurse-physician collaboration, with rates of infections significantly lowered when cooperative relationships are present, according to data. 

"Our findings suggest that raising the quality of collaboration and communication among nurses and physicians has the potential to improve patient safety,” Christine Boev, RN, PhD, CCRN, of Wegman’s School of Nursing at St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, said in a press release.

Christine Boev

Researchers’ compared data collected from 671 nurse perception surveys, from participants who worked in one of four specialized ICUs (surgical, medical, burn-trauma and cardiovascular) with rate of patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia and central catheter-associated infections, over a 5-year period.

Bloodstream infections decreased by 2.98 (P = .005) and pneumonia by 1.13 (P = .005) for every 0.5 unit increase in nurse-physician collaboration. A 0.43 lower rate of bloodstream infections (P = .02) and a 0.17 lower rate of pneumonia (P = .01) was associated with ICUs that had a higher percentage of certified nurses.

When adjusting for covariates, ICUs with more nursing hours/patient saw a 0.42 decrease in the rate of bloodstream infections (P = .05).

The researchers noted that these findings join a growing body of literature that supports the notion that work environment affects outcomes of patients with health care-associated infections, the importance of nurse-physician collaboration and how to improve those relationships.

“Nurse-physician collaboration is a priority partnership that has been identified by the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing Report. This study has demonstrated a link between nurse-physician collaboration and healthcare-associated infections. Hospital administrators and nurse managers should consider implementing strategies to improve this partnership as it has the potential to improve the nursing work environment and patient safety,” Boev told Healio.com/Internal Medicine. – by Casey Hower

Disclosure: The researchers report receiving funding from St. John Fisher College’s faculty development grant.