[INT 101AHS] INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN HEALTH
Interprofessional Collaboration in Health
Interprofessional Collaboration
Health Scenario:
\ PREVENTABLE HARM when receiving
- (Canadian Interprofessional Health
Collaborative, 2010)
- the process of developing working
relationships with learners, practitioners,
patients/clients/families, and communities
to enable optimal health outcomes”
- elements include respect, trust, shared
decision-making, and partnerships”
Interprofessional Education
When students from two or more professions learn
about, from and with each other to enable effective
collaboration and improve health outcomes”
according to (WHO,2010)
Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
“When multiple health workers from different
professional backgrounds work together with
patients, families, careers [sic], and communities to
deliver the highest quality of care” according to
(WHO, 2010)
Interprofessional is not..
 simply sharing electronic health records
 “Professional teams” (ex: neurosurgeons,
psychiatrists, radiologists, etc…)
 learners having a talk about another
profession
 “reporting” out at interdisciplinary team
meetings
 co-location without intentional
collaboration
 decision-making without client/patient input
Interprofessional Collaboration- Why now?
 demographic changes – aging population
 chronic health conditions – need more
complex care
 technological advances
 specialization in health care
 patient safety and quality agenda
 workforce pressures and gaps
 healthcare and payment reforms
 1999 – the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
urged the practice of IP team-based care
to PREVENT ERRORS
 2013 – the Journal of Patient Safety
reported between 210,000 and 440,000
patients each year suffer from
hospital care
 Center for Disease Control (CDC) –
included preventable medical errors as a
disease category (3rd leading cause of
death in the US)
Framework for Collaborative Practice
Benefits of Interprofessional Collaborative
Practice
Educational:
 students have real world experience and
insights
 students learn and appreciate the work of
other practitioners
 staff from a range of professions provide
input into programmed development
Health Policy:
 improved workplace practices and
productivity
 improved patient outcomes
 high or raised staff morale
 improved patient safety
 better access to health care
Actual (clinical) Practice- decrease:
 total patient complications
 length of hospital stays
 tension and conflict among care givers
 staff turnover
 hospital admissions
 clinical error rates
 mortality rates
Community Mental Health Settings
 increase patient and care satisfaction
 promote greater acceptance of treatment
 reduce duration of treatment
 reduce cost of care
 reduce the incidence of suicide
 increase treatment for psychiatric
disorders
 reduce outpatient visits
[INT 101AHS] INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN HEALTH
Interprofessional Collaboration in Health
Terminally and Chronically ill Patients (at
home):
 more satisfaction
 report fewer clinic visits
 present with fewer symptoms
 report over-all improved health
Reduced cost of:
 redundant medical testing
 setting up and implementing primary
health care teams with chronic illnesses
 implementing multi-disciplinary strategies
for the management of heart failure
patients
 implementing total parenteral nutrition
teams within the hospital
Evidence on the outcomes of Interprofessional
Collaborative Practice
Critical Reflection
 Denmark- primary health care facilities
maintain records of each health workers’
services to facilitate reflection, discussion,
and improvement
 process enables them to share their best
practices and fosters a team spirit
Health workforce satisfaction and well-being
 Australia and UK- primary care teams
have reported high levels of well-being
 they share problems and support each
other
 resulting cooperation buffers individuals
from negative workplace interactions
Evidence on the outcomes of Interprofessional
Teamwork
 Better access and continuity of care
 Patient and professional satisfaction
 Superior care for diabetes patients
 Improved blood pressure control
 Reduction in medication side-effects and
improved adherence
Barriers to Effective Interprofessional
Collaboration
Organizational (lack of):
- Knowledge and appreciation of the roles of
other health professionals
- The need to make compelling arguments
for team building to senior decision-makers
- Lack of outcomes research on
collaboration
- Financial and regulatory constraints
- Legal issues of scope of practice and
liability
- Reimbursement structures for different
professions, including which services
receive reimbursement
- Hierarchical administrative and
educational structures that encourage
interprofessional collaboration
Team Level
- lack of a clearly stated, shared, and
measurable purpose
- lack of training in interprofessional
collaboration
- role and leadership ambiguity
- team too large or too small
- team not composed of appropriate
professionals
- lack of appropriate mechanism for timely
exchange of information
- lack of commitment of team members
- different goals of individual team members
- apathy of team members
- inadequate decision making
- conflict regarding individual relationships
to the patient/client.
Individual Level
- Split loyalties between team and own
discipline
- multiple responsibilities and job titles
- competition naïveté
- gender, race, or class-based prejudice
- persistence of a defensive attitude
- reluctance to accept suggestions from
team members representing other
professions
- lack of trust in the collaborative process.
Overcoming Barriers
 • agree on a unifying philosophy centered
around primary care of the patient/client
and the community
 develop a commitment to the common
goal of collaboration
 learn about other professions
 respect others’ skills and knowledge
 establish positive attitudes about own
profession
 develop trust between members
 be willing to share responsibility for
patient/client care
 establish a mechanism for negotiation and
re-negotiation of goals and roles over time
 establish method for resolving conflicts
between team members
 be willing to work continuously on
overcoming barriers
[INT 101AHS] INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN HEALTH
Interprofessional Collaboration in Health
5 Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in
Healthcare
Modern healthcare is a team sport, especially in
hospitals. The typical inpatient experience features
a cadre of health professionals working together to
deliver quality care and stellar patient experience.
The World Health Organization defines it as
“multiple health workers from different professional
backgrounds working together with patients,
families, careers (caregivers), and communities to
deliver the highest quality of care.”
Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in
Healthcare
Why is interprofessional collaboration essential?
Because when you create a collaborative culture
(and put communication strategies and technology
in place to support that culture), you:
Improve patient care and outcomes
- A patient walks into the emergency
department (ED) complaining of chest
pains. An ED doctor checks him out,
followed by a cardiologist, who orders
some tests and waits on the results from
the radiologist, who confirms what both
doctors suspected: the patient is having a
heart attack.
- Many hospitals now encourage team-
based, patient-centered rounds that
include the primary doctor, bedside nurse,
specialized physicians, and any other
relevant team members. This helps to
foster both patient-centered care and
interprofessional collaboration in
healthcare.
Reduce medical errors
- In healthcare, communication gaps can
have costly consequences — from missed
symptoms to misdiagnoses to medication
errors. In fact, medical errors cause
250,000 deaths each year. According to
Johns Hopkins, it’s the third leading cause
of death in the U.S.
- It’s easy to see how accidents can
happen, with multiple doctors prescribing
multiple medications, and numerous
nurses delivering those medications. EHR
notes can help, but clinical communication
is vital. That means having a group
conversation, looping in a pharmacist for
some interprofessional collaboration, and
ensuring nurses have all the information
they need to treat patients safely.
-  interprofessional collaboration in
healthcare can help to reduce preventable
adverse drug reactions, decrease mortality
rates, and optimize medication dosages.
Start treatment faster.
- Much of healthcare is a waiting game.
Patients wait for physicians, while
physicians wait for other physicians to
provide consultations, or for radiology to
send back lab results.
- Communication delays frustrate patients
and waste valuable time, giving conditions
time to worsen. That’s why the Joint
Commission continually lists “improve staff
communication” and “get important test
results to the right staff person on time” as
a National Patient Safety Goal.
- Interprofessional collaboration bridges the
gaps. So does clinical communication
technology. It keeps care team members
connected (so they can reach out to that
physician who hasn’t entered notes into
the EHR) and automates alerts (so they
receive text messages when critical lab
results come in). Overall, a care team
collaboration platform delivers the right
information to the right people at the right
time via secure messaging, voice, or
video.
Reduce inefficiencies and healthcare costs.
- Interprofessional collaboration in
healthcare helps to prevent medication
errors, improve the patient experience
(and thus HCAHPS), and deliver better
patient outcomes — all of which can
reduce healthcare costs. It also helps
hospitals save money by shoring up
workflow redundancies and operational
inefficiencies
- By improving the interprofessional
collaboration model between its nurses
and physicians, one hospital cut its fall rate
in half, decreased average length-of-stay
by 0.6 days, increased annualized bed
turn by 20 percent, and increased
discharges before noon by 20 percent —
according to a Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation study of 20 hospitals. At
another hospital in the study,
interprofessional collaboration significantly
improved surgical start times and
prevented delays that led to 700 wasted
hours over the previous four years.
Improve staff relationships and job satisfaction
- Every health profession has its own
subculture, knowledge base, and
philosophy. When you add power
structures, some members’ voices get
prioritized over others. That’s not good for
the patient or for staff morale.
- Interprofessional collaboration levels the
playing field and acknowledges that
everyone plays a vital role on the care
[INT 101AHS] INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN HEALTH

Interprofessional Collaboration in Health

team. That sense of community and
camaraderie can also boost staff retention
and recruitment.

Empower Interprofessional Collaboration in

Healthcare with Mobile Solutions

Workers in most industries are more connected

than ever. Whether they need a face-to-face
conversation with a colleague across the country
via video conferencing, or want to text an update to
a customer, all they need is a smartphone.

Many healthcare professionals have this experience

everywhere except work. Because their employers
haven’t invested in a HIPAA-compliant
communication platform, they’re still relying on
outdated technology like pagers, landlines, or fax
machines

When hospital communications technology is hard

to use, your staff will use it as infrequently as
possible or waste valuable time trying to get in
touch with a member of the care team. If you want
your team to master interprofessional collaboration
in healthcare, give them the tools to do it.