Interprofessional Shared Decision Making in the NICU: A Survey of an Interprofessional Healthcare Team

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine how different membersof an interprofessional (IP) team (nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and other professionals) perceived collaboration and satisfaction with the decisionmaking process across three decision types (triage, chronic condition management, values-sensitive decisions) in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods and Findings: All members of the team at a tertiary NICU in Canada who consented to the study received a modified version of the Collaboration and Satisfaction about Care Decisions (CSACD) instrument. A total of 96 completed surveys were returned (response rate of 81.4). Collaboration scores were calculated for each participant, professional group, and the IP team. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between perceived collaboration about decision making and satisfaction with the decision-making process. Inter-group comparisons across different decision types were also calculated. The majority of statistically significant differences in professional perspectives about decision making were about triage decisions. Nurses and respiratory therapists were more likely than other groups to feel the decision-making process was inadequate. There was a strong, positive correlation between perceived collaboration in decision making, satisfaction with the decision-making process, and satisfaction with the decision. Conclusions: Findings from this survey suggest that healthcare professionals' views differ about what constitutes optimum interprofessional shared decision making(IPSDM), and the decision type is an important influencing factor for IPSDM.