Intensity of Interprofessional Collaboration and related factors in Intensive Care Units. A descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical approach

Objective

To determine the Intensity of Collaboration between the intensive care professionals of a third level hospital.

Method

Descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical approach. Setting: 6 intensive care units of a third level hospital. Sample: nurses and doctors. Consecutive type non-probabilistic sampling. Data collection: sociodemographic, economic, motivation and professional satisfaction variables, and the intensity of collaboration using the “Scale of Intensity of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health.”

Results

A total of 102 health professionals (91 nurses and 11 doctors) were included. The mean overall Intensity of Collaboration (IoC) was moderate. Men showed higher scores in all factors (p < .05). The IoC global score was higher in the group of professionals with ≤10 years of experience (p = .043) and those who were highly satisfied with the profession (p = .037). Physicians presented higher scores in the global IdC (p = .037) and in the Collaboration mean (p = .020) independently in the multivariate models. A negative linear relationship (rho: −0,202, p = .042) was observed between age and the overall IoC score. Professionals aged ≤30 years reported a higher perception of Shared Activities (p = .031). Negative linear relationships were observed between years of experience and total IoC score (rho: −0,202, p = .042) and patients' Perception score (rho: −0.241, p = 0.015). The research activity also showed to be a variable related to a greater degree of Collaboration at a global level and in some of the factors (p < .05). The scale of IoC obtained a Cronbach’s α of 0,9.

Conclusions

The intensity of interprofessional collaboration in ICUs is moderate. Professionals with experience of ≤10 years, a higher level of satisfaction and participation in research activities show a greater intensity of collaboration. Doctors perceive collaboration more intensely than nurses. All factors contribute equally to the internal consistency of the questionnaire.