Interprofessioal collaboration among Speech Language Pathologists and Nurses in Acute Care in Pakistan

Objective: To find out inter-professional collaboration among speech-language pathologists and nurses in acute care in Pakistan.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study which was conducted in all government and private hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi having facility of ICUs after taking consent from authorities. The duration of study was six months from October 2018 to February 2019. A total number of 350 participants (200 nurses, 150 speech language pathologists) working in ICU of different private and government hospitals of Pakistan were included in the study. Standardized questionnaire of “assessment of inter-professioal collaboration scale” (AITCS) was circulated to nurses and speech language pathologists (SLPS) working in ICU with its subscale’s partnership, coordination, cooperation and shared decision making on a 5-point likert scale. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Measure of mean was obtained by independent sample t-test. P-Value less than 0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: Statistical analysis showed measures of mean differences obtained by t-test revealed significant differences at p<0.001 level between partnership scores of SLPS and nurses. This reveals good partnership between two disciplines. Measures of mean differences obtained by t-test revealed significant differences at p<0.001 level between partnership scores of SLPS and nurses. Both do not value each other in cooperation. Measures of mean differences obtained by t-test showed significant differences at p<0.001 level amongst coordination scores of SLPS and nurses. Both have good coordination. Measures of mean differences obtained by t-test revealed significant differences at p<0.001 level amongst shared decision-making scores of SLPS and nurses. Both are involved in shared decision making.

Conclusion: Results show significant difference in partnership, coordination, and shared decision making. There is no significant difference in cooperation.