Working on working together. A systematic review on how healthcare professionals contribute to interprofessional collaboration

Abstract

Professionals in healthcare are increasingly encouraged to work together. This has acted as a catalyst for research on interprofessional collaboration. Authors suggest developing interprofessional collaboration is not just the job of managers and policy makers; it also requires active contributions of professionals. Empirical understanding of whether professionals make such contributions and if so, how and why, remains fragmented. This systematic review of 64 studies from the past 20 years shows there is considerable evidence for professionals actively contributing to interprofessional collaboration. Although the evidence is limited, we can show they do so in three distinct ways: by bridging professional, social, physical and task-related gaps, by negotiating overlaps in roles and tasks, and by creating spaces to be able to do so. Professionals from different professions seem to make different contributions. Moreover, differences exist between collaborative settings and healthcare subsectors. We conclude by proposing a research agenda to advance our understanding of these contributions in theoretical, methodological and empirical ways.

Editorial: Healthy Healthcare: Empirical Occupational Health Research and Evidence-Based Practice

“…These practices, along with healthy job design, can help sustain the availability and continuity, as well as appropriate levels of quality in the delivery of healthcare (Løvseth and de Lange, 2020 ). Despite these suggestions, recurrent data shows that occupational health-related disorders such as burnout and depression are continually increasing among healthcare workers worldwide (Herkes et al, 2019 ; Schot et al, 2019 ; Greenberg et al, 2020 ; Teoh et al, 2020b ; Wang et al, 2020 ).…”

Living on the Own Island? Aligned Collaboration Between Family Physicians, Nurses, Dieticians, and Patients With Diabetes Type 2 in an Outpatient Care Setting in Northern Italy: Findings From a Qualitative Study

“…“Changing the others” is always easier than changing oneself meant as the own way of working ( referring to social support, and needed organizational support Gittell 24 ). A systematic review on how HCPs contribute to interprofessional collaboration 25 summarized the existing evidence, which the authors described as limited and fragmented. Nevertheless, the contribution of HCP was characterized to overcome different kind of gaps by managing intersections/duplications and by finding the time and place to overcome them.…”

“…In line with Gittell et al., further emphasis to study these activities therefore would be needed in the everyday routine work of HCPs. 25 …”

Zorgtransformatie: trendy innoveren of nieuw vertrekpunt?

“…Met de groeiende complexiteit en toenemende inzet van zorgcontact op afstand is het utopisch om te verwachten dat samenwerken is gebaseerd op louter 'warme' , bekende werkcontacten. Moderne samenwerking in de zorg is toenemend gebaseerd op 'open' teams met een laagdrempelig toegang voor iedere die expertise op dat moment nodig is (Schot et al, 2019). Deelname aan zo'n flexibel team vraagt een hoge mate van betrokkenheid in het proces van continu samen aangaan van complexe problematiek: een gemeenschappelijke exercitie die ook wel sensemaking wordt genoemd (Weick, 1995).…”

“…Tijd en ruimte maken Categorieën van conventionele tactieken waarmee zorgprofessionals de onderlinge samenwerking bevorderen: een selectie van beïnvloedende factoren en ondersteunende tactieken (zie o.a. :Schot et al, 2019; Keijser, 2016)…”