Nurse-Physician Communication in a Nursing Home Setting

Abstract

Physician disinterest in the care of the chronically ill aged presents a continuing problem in the nursing home. To identify specific nurse-physician communication gaps, the nursing staff of 2 suburban nursing homes participated in a 3-mo. study of nurse-physician contacts. The results demonstrated generalized physician disinterest on the part of the covering physicians to care for the institutionalized aged in the absence of their colleagues and the difficulty experienced by physicians in developing definitive, aggressive care programs for elderly patients in nursing homes. Leaders in nursing and medical education are advised to direct their attention to the current gap in nurse-physician communication in nursing homes.