Last update:
01-Aug-2025

OBJECTIVE To investigate the correlations between the interdisciplinary collaboration and communication and the job satisfaction of the medical and nursing staff who work in public hospitals of Heraklion, Crete.

METHOD The research sample consisted of 156/185 (response rate: 84,3%) doctors and nurses who worked in "Venizelio-Pananio" General Hospital and the University Hospital in Heraklion, Crete. The research was held from February to April 2023. To collect the data, a complex questionnaire was used which included questions to record their socio-demographic and professional data, the Communication and Collaboration Questionnaire among Physicians and Nurses and the Kuopio University Hospital Job Satisfaction Scale (KUHJSS). The analysis of the collected data was performed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.0.

RESULTS The total average value of interdisciplinary collaboration and communication among the medical and nursing staff was 3.75±0.51, which indicates good relationship between doctors and nurses, while in terms of job satisfaction, the average value of total satisfaction was 3.72±0,53, which indicates relatively high satisfaction. At the same time, the attitude of nurses, in relation to the interdisciplinary cooperation and communication among doctors and nurses, was neither positive nor negative (mean value: 3.33±0.41). In addition, higher level of education and increased monthly income were related with greater participation in interdisciplinary collaboration while increased level of monthly income and position of responsibility were related with higher job satisfaction. Finally, greater agreement in interdisciplinary collaboration and communication was related to nurses' better view of the physician-nurse relationship and higher job satisfaction, while nurses who collaborated better with physicians tended to be more satisfied.

CONCLUSIONS Doctors and nurses enjoy a satisfactory level of interdisciplinary collaboration and job satisfaction, with significant margins for improvement noted in both cases. Staff training and creation of interdisciplinary collaboration teams can contribute to improving the efficiency of a health unit but also to the overall improvement of the health services provided.

Key words: Communication, Interdisciplinary collaboration, Job satisfaction, Medical and nursing staff.