Abstract
The increasing rates of comorbidities among patients and the complexity of care have warranted interprofessional collaboration (IPC) as an important component of the healthcare structure. An initial step towards assessing the effectiveness of collaboration requires the exploration of the attitudes and experience of healthcare professionals towards IPC. This online survey aimed to examine the attitudes of healthcare professionals working in a large public academic medical center toward IPC in patient care and the healthcare team, and their behavior and experience regarding IPC. The rankings, according to the perceived importance among the respondents, of the four Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies (values/ethics, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, teams/teamwork) were assessed. There were strong but varying levels of consensus among healthcare professionals (N = 551) that IPC facilitates efficient patient care, improves patient problem-solving ability, and increases better clinical outcomes for patients. They acknowledged that IPC promotes mutual respect within the healthcare team and providers’ ability to make optimal patient care decisions. However, overall more than 35% of the respondents did not attend multidisciplinary education sessions (grand rounds, seminars, etc.), and about 23% did not participate in bedside patient care rounds. Interprofessional communication was ranked as the most important IPEC core competence. Although the attitude towards IPC among healthcare professionals is strongly positive, many healthcare professionals face challenges in participating in IPC. Institutional policies that facilitate interprofessional learning and interactions for this group of healthcare professionals should be formulated. Online distance learning and interactions, and simulation-enhanced interprofessional education, are options for addressing this barrier. Hospital administrators should facilitate conducive work environments that promote IPC, based on IPEC core competencies, and promote programs that address the challenges of IPC.
Highlights
Collaboration has been defined as the cooperative arrangement in which two or more parties work together towards completing a task or achieving a common goal [1]
The ages of the respondents were mostly distributed between 30–59 years (n = 413, 75%), and the majority worked in the inpatient department of the medical center (n = 291, 52.8%)
Regarding patient care and the healthcare team, and their behavior and experience of Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) revealed that healthcare professionals believe that communication among team members, understanding of role limitations, and trust and respect among team members of different disciplines are necessary for IPC to be successful
Summary
Collaboration has been defined as the cooperative arrangement in which two or more parties work together towards completing a task or achieving a common goal [1]. Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in healthcare is a partnership among diverse health professionals to provide quality care to patients, families and caregivers [2,3]. IPC utilizes both the individual and collective skills and experience of team members, allowing them to function more effectively and deliver a higher level of care than when working alone [4]. Patients are more likely to receive the highest quality of care if healthcare professionals understand each other’s roles and appreciate each other’s skills. The World Health Organization (WHO) framework has provided strategies and models to assist professionals in designing and implementing a team-approach [2], and the Interprofessional Education
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