Attitude of nurses and midwives towards collaborative care with physicians in Jimma University medical center, Jimma, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Good attitude on collaborative care between nurses and midwives with physicians is crucial for better team working. This further enables those vital health care professionals to provide quality and improved care for their clients. Objective: To assess the attitude of nurses and midwives towards collaborative care with physicians in Jimma University medical center, Jimma, South West Ethiopia. Methodology: The institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 20 to April 8, 2019, using a semi-structured and standardized questionnaire. Study units were selected by simple random sampling using the lottery method. A total of 410 participants were included in the study. Data were entered into Epi data version 4.2 and exported to statistical packages for social sciences version 23 for cleaning and further analysis. Descriptive statistics were presented with tables, figures, and narratives. The level of significance was set at a p value of less than 0.05 in multivariable logistic regression. Results and conclusion: More than five out of ten, 234 (57.2%) of participants had a good (good attitude is defined in the operational definition section of methodology) attitude towards collaborative care with physicians, and the rest 175 (42.8%) poor attitude toward it. Participants had the highest median score in the shared education and teamwork (26.0) subscale and midwives were found to have higher mean rank scores compared to nurses. It was only in the nurse's/midwife's autonomy subscale that a statistically significant difference was found (Z = − 2.92, p value = 0.003). More generally, more than have of the participants had a good attitude on providing care collaboratively with physicians, though a significant proportion of nurses and midwives also rate collaborative care provision with physicians as poor. Recommendations: The findings of this study suggested that interventions are needed to be taken to improve nurse's and midwife’s attitudes on the provision of collaborative care with physicians. Enhancement of shared education, cooperation rather than dominance and caring attitude are all vital. These all could in turn enhance the quality of care provided for clients.