Joanna Gotlib
Mariusz Panczyk
Henryk Rebandel
The influence of working as a nurse while studying nursing at university on the opinions of students regarding the quality of co-operation in the interdisciplinary therapeutic team – pilot study
Joanna Gotlib
Mariusz Panczyk
Henryk Rebandel
Zakład Dydaktyki i Efektów Kształcenia Wydziału Nauki o Zdrowiu, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warszawa, Polska
Zakład Dydaktyki i Efektów Kształcenia Wydziału Nauki o Zdrowiu, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warszawa, Polska
Zakład Dydaktyki i Efektów Kształcenia Wydziału Nauki o Zdrowiu, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warszawa, Polska
Abstract
Introduction: Effective co-operation within the therapeutic team is a prerequisite for high-quality medical care. This article analyses the perceptions of students of nursing about the members of the therapeutic team (doctor, nurse, dietician, and physiotherapist) and compares these opinions as expressed by students already working as nurses vs. those not working as nurses.
Material and Methods: The study involved a group of 92 students (82 females and 5 males) in their second year of a full-time MA programme in Nursing at the Faculty of Health Science, Warsaw Medical University. A questionnaire of 22 items designed by the authors was completed by volunteers at the beginning of the second (summer) semester in the academic year 2009/2010. Statistical analysis of the data employed the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.05) (STATISTICA 9.0).
Results: Perceptions about the professional characteristic of doctors, nurses, dieticians, and physiotherapists did not differ between nursing students already working as nurses vs. those not working with regard to the majority of characteristics studied. Experience with the future profession did not influence opinions regarding the need for medical professionals’ improving their qualifications. The only characteristic that was significantly different between the two groups of students was the perception of a dietician’s job as interesting.
Conclusions:
1. Working as a nurse did not influence the perceptions of the nursing students about the members of the therapeutic team.
2. In the opinion of the study group participants, regardless of the nature of one’s responsibilities, working in a medical profession requires constant improvement of one’s ability to work in the medical team
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited