Date of Award

1977

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

First Advisor

Jerome Seliger

Second Advisor

Denis Cowan

Abstract

Having been a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist for over 10 years, functioning both as a practitioner and as an educator, I have become very aware of many problems facing my profession. These problems are frequently discussed by physicians and nurses in the work situation as well as in the political arena. Until this time there has been no formal study of these problems.

In my study of interpersonal conflict related to the field of health care administration, I became aware that one method of solving conflict entailed utilization of opinions of the conflicting groups in order to reach a mutual expectation and therefore reduce the level of conflict. My hope is that by utilization of the material provided by this study, physicians and nurses can reach a mutual decision regarding expectation of each other. Each hospital might develop a job description similar to the one developed for UCLA, (presented in Appendix V), which is based on the results of this study. If both physicians and nurse anesthetists agree upon this job description, both groups will have similar expectations and conflict may be reduced.

This study- also brings to light the feelings of both groups regarding the profession of nurse anesthesia and how it is perceived. Verbalization of these feelings may open the area to constructive discussion or further research.

The area of education for the nurse anesthetist is very pertinent today and changes are being made in a few institutions to create more academic and less technical training programs. The results of this study indicate a need for more academic programs. This study may stimulate even more institutions to develop their programs on the academic level.

Areas become apparent from this survey in which more definitive work should be helpful. Perhaps this study will stimulate others to do research in the area.

It is my hope that by disseminating the knowledge gained here to members of the anesthesia care team, through formal presentation at meetings and publication, I might be able to begin an attempt at conflict reduction between physicians and nurses in the field, and stimulate future study of the identified problem areas.

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