Conclusion
Registered nurses, physicians and residents must communicate in order to care for patients.
How nurses and physicians perceive and value collaboration is significant to patient
outcomes and work place satisfaction. Even though the differences in attitudes toward
collaboration and servant leadership are reported as statistically significant in this study, it is
reassuring to note that the mean scores for both nurses and physicians were high, 52.31 and
338 J. S. Garber et al.
50.88, respectively, on a potential 60-point scale. The servant leadership mean scores were
similar for both groups, 73.57 and 67.65, respectively, on a 96-point scale.
This study has direct implications for practice and education within this health system and
has implications for practice across all health professions. The practice of collaboration and
servant leadership has an impact on all provider relationships as well as patient-provider
relationships. Understanding communications and relationships within the matrix of
healthcare professionals, beyond registered nurses and physicians, has been explored, but is
minimal and no research has focused on servant leadership.
Replication of this study is recommended to obtain a larger representative sample. There
is specifically an opportunity to further investigate the perspective of the resident physician.
The physician-in-training is in a unique provider position and may have perceptions that
differ from those of the practicing physician. In order to shape medical and nursing school
curricula and to prepare nurses and physicians of the future for the collaborative,
interprofessional work environment, more research is needed. An opportunity for future
research on collaboration is the implementation of interventional research so that studies
can validate actions and behaviors that influence collaboration. Interprofessional research
studies that reach beyond nurses and physicians are needed to address links between
teamwork and leadership as well as factors such as job satisfaction, patient outcomes,
turnover rates, and productivity (Thomas et al., 2003). Future studies could also include the
patient as a collaborative partner in examining healthcare provider collaboration. Research
studies regarding servant leadership and implications for healthcare are just beginning.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are
responsible for the content and writing of the pape