Perceptions on nurse–nurse collaboration among registered nurses in Finland and Norway

Abstract

Background: Intraprofessional collaboration necessitates understanding and knowledge on how nurses perceive each other and what factors promote good collaboration. The relationship between nurse–nurse collaboration has been explored relatively little, though intraprofessional collaboration is an essential factor for a healthy work environment. Aim: This study explores the Finnish and the Norwegian nurses’ perceptions of nurse–nurse collaboration in nursing care and factors associated with those perceptions. Design: A cross-sectional quantitative study design. Methods: In 2015, data were collected from 406 Finnish and Norwegian RNs in two acute-care hospitals, by employing the Dougherty and Larson's Nurse-Nurse Collaboration Scale (NNCS). Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, Pearson's chi-Square tests and multivariate anova were used for analysis. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from ethics committees in both countries. Results: Findings indicated that the perception of nurse–nurse collaboration was good in both countries. However, significant inter-country differences were found in the collaboration subscales. Compared with their Finnish counterparts, Norwegian nurses awarded higher scores to conflict management, communication, shared process, coordination and professionalism. The results suggest that nurse characteristics, such as main working time and total work experience, were related to the perception of collaboration. Conclusion: The subscales with the highest scores in both countries were professionalism, shared process and communication. Factors such as conflict management and coordination are areas which should be emphasised to achieve good collaboration between nurses. Here, nurse leaders play an important part in assessing and improving RN-RN collaboration.