Nurse Physician Relations: A Qualitative Case Study in the Emergency Department of a Hospital in Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

In this qualitative study, physician-nurse relationships are examined under the light of existing literature by focusing on conflicts and their solutions at work. The main purpose of the study is to understand and interpret social relationships in one hospital organization in Turkey. According to focus group discussions, there are not only gender-based conflicts among physicians and nurses, but there are also conflicts due to the personal, professional, economic and gender-based inequalities of society. Therefore, psychological, cultural and structural factors play an important role, as do organizational and professional issues in the process of physician-nurse working relationships. Although in this study female physician-female nurse conflict challenged existing findings, nurses’ interventions with respect to physicians’ treatments and, thereby, ability to control power distribution, are also to be considered challenging findings.