Development of a scale for measuring collaboration between physicians and nurses in primary health-care teams. Issue 6 (2nd November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jaruseviciene, Lina; Kontrimiene, Ausrine; Zaborskis, Apolinaras; Liseckiene, Ida; Jarusevicius, Gediminas; Valius, Leonas; Lazarus, Jeffrey V.
• Is Part Of: Journal of interprofessional care. Volume 33:Issue 6(2019)
• Page Start: 670
• Page End: 679
• Publication Date: 2019-11-02
• Subjects: Collaboration -- primary health care -- general practitioners -- nurses; Holistic medicine -- Periodicals; Interprofessional relations -- Periodicals; Health care teams -- Periodicals; 361
• DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1594730
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1356-1820

Abstract

ABSTRACT: During past decades the science of collaboration in health care has progressed significantly worldwide, although in some regions (e.g.: Central and Eastern Europe) these processes are slower. The aim of this study was to develop a new, multidimensional measurement tool of the developing collaboration in primary health care (PHC). This study included both qualitative (thematic analysis of the data from focus group discussions) and quantitative (a 36-item cross-sectional questionnaire) methods in order to develop and test a new measurement scale. The collaboration scale between community nurses (CNs) and general practitioners (GPs) in primary health-care teams (COPAN scale) was created. It initially revealed five determining factors: "Goal Oriented Team Synergy", "Team Structure and Leadership", "Organizational Background for Teamwork", "Competence" and "Diffusion of Functions." Two and three-factor scales (COPAN-2 and COPAN-3) were developed after confirmatory factor analysis with sufficient psychometric characteristics to be applied in practice. This study reports the reliability of a novel tool that can be used to measure collaboration of CNs and GPs in PHC. The newly developed scale has the potential to become an easy-to-use tool in the monitoring of teamwork situations within PHC settings of low integration or newly evolving teams.