Interprofessional care and the relationship between nurses and physicians in the hospital setting: nurses' perceptions

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe, from the nurses' perspective, the teamwork model and the interprofessional relationships established between nurses and physicians in healthcare in the medical and surgical ward of a public hospital in the Central-West Region of Brazil. Method: A qualitative, descriptive study that used the case study method. The research was conducted between July 2024 and April 2025 in the medical and surgical ward of a public hospital. 140 instruments were applied to characterize the nurses' profile, 75 medical records were analyzed, 20 non-participant observation sessions were conducted, and 10 semi-structured interviews were carried out with nursing assistants. Thematic content analysis and data triangulation techniques were used. Results: It was found that there is a devaluation of interprofessional care, low interaction between physicians and nurses from the perspective of patient care, in addition to the significant occurrence of conflicting relationships, affecting teamwork. Furthermore, despite the nurses' efforts to promote teamwork, the physicians continued the trend of monopolizing therapeutic decisions. Final considerations: in the nurses' perception, collaborative practices were limited due to the existence of an organizational culture that normalizes the hierarchy and overlapping of knowledge and practices between physicians and nurses.