Exploring the Effect of Doctor-Nurse Collaboration on Overall Satisfaction Among the Older Patients: A Moderated Mediation Model of Responsiveness and Environment.

Objective: Older patients often encounter challenges during outpatient visits that adversely affect their overall satisfaction. This study tested a moderated mediation model to examine how doctor-nurse collaboration influences satisfaction through responsiveness to patient needs, and how the outpatient environment moderates this process within geriatric care settings. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey utilizing a 5-point Likert scale was conducted to assess patient satisfaction by recruiting 9133 older patients (51.6% male). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the factors associated with satisfaction. After controlling for confounders such as title of registered doctor, gender, and educational status, a moderated mediation analysis was performed using Stata 18.0. Results: Both dimensions of doctor-nurse collaboration, interprofessional collaboration (X1) and attitudinal alignment (X2), directly enhanced patient satisfaction (β = 0.065, p < 0.001). Responsiveness to patient needs mediated this relationship (β =  0.253, p  <  0.001). The outpatient environment significantly moderated the effect of collaboration on responsiveness in both the model1 (β = 0.288, p <0.001) and the model2 (β = 0.289, p <0.001). Conclusion: Effective collaboration between doctors and nurses is essential for addressing the professional and emotional needs of older patients, thereby improving their overall satisfaction. Moreover, integrating the outpatient environment into the doctor-patient collaboration model highlights the importance of considering physical settings and interpersonal dynamics as interrelated components to comprehensively understand patient satisfaction and its determinants.