Doctor-nurse interconsultation in primary health care: collective subject discourses

Pacheco RCP, Hermida PMV, Rodrigues MS. Doctor-nurse interconsultation in primary health care: collective subject discourses. Interface (Botucatu). 2023; 27:230153. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.230153

Abstract
With the aim of understanding doctor-nurse interconsultation in primary health care, we conducted a descriptive exploratory qualitative study using focus groups. The data were analyzed using collective subject discourse. Four nurses and three doctors participated in the study, whose discourses on their understanding of interconsultation and its different formats gave rise to four central ideas: interconsultation is integrated and complementary across professions, instigated by the person who began the appointment, communication-based and seeks to promote comprehensiveness; format depends on professional confidence, length of time working together, the environment and patient demands; it is important to maintain nurse protagonism, breaking with doctor-centered logic; the “ping-pong” interconsultation model does not work. The findings reveal that interconsultation is a successful care tool that challenges doctor-centered logic by promoting integrated and complementary working between doctors and nurses.

Keywords
Interprofessional relations; Interdisciplinary communication; Patient-centered care; Comprehensive health care; Primary health care

Acess in: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.230153