Remember ‘that’ moment in your professional career that completely shocked you?
I do – and it was only last year.
I was working with a single discipline team of allied health professionals who were about to shift into an interdisciplinary service model.
During our workshop discussion, they flat out threw (multiple) other allied health professions under the bus. The commentary included,
“They’re not allowed to do the kind of work we do…’, and,
“There’ll be nothing left for us to provide…”
I know right.
My eyebrows reflexively moved all the way up my forehead (and have remained there since). Remind me – it is 2024…yes?
These very overt signs of poor interprofessional collaboration may not play out like this in your organisation. But don’t be fooled. Protecting one’s professional ‘turf’ is alive and well in most health and social care organisations, and for most professions, just more subtly. Sometimes you actively have to look for signs of it. And because our funding and professional regulatory systems tend to make true interprofessional collaboration very challenging, the examples we do see in our organisations are often quite watered down.
Why is it so hard to lean into interprofessional collaboration?
Why do we instinctively feel threatened by other professions and the overlap of roles? Especially when we know that – when this kind of collaboration is done well – it is so beneficial for the individuals we serve.
What is it that prevents interprofessional teamwork from happening, and how can we do it better?
More importantly, why is this way of working so important?
If this feels like an all-too-familiar story and you’re ready to change the narrative in your organisation, I can help.
Let’s explore what good interprofessional collaboration looks like; why it is so important; why we’ve become so terrible at it; and two ways you can start improving it – today.
What is interprofessional collaboration?
Colleagues of mine from my old University of Sheffield days embarked on an unprecedented study to examine the core tenets of successful interprofessional collaboration.
They then went on to apply their findings and measure their impact on patients, staff and organisations.
After a systematic review and concept analysis, they devised the following definition of interprofessional or interdisciplinary teamwork:
“A dynamic process involving two or more health professionals with complementary backgrounds and skills, sharing common health goals and exercising concerted physical and mental effort in assessing, planning, or evaluating patient care. This is accomplished through interdependent collaboration, open communication and shared decision-making. This in turn generates value-added patient, organisational and staff outcomes.” (p.238). You can read the full paper here.
I couldn’t agree with my colleagues’ definition more.
Here’s my take:
I like to think of interprofessional collaboration as a process where decision making, as well as professional boundaries, are shared for the benefit of the individuals we serve.
A process where we lay down our professional identity, to some extent, so we can truly meet the client where they are at. Where we leave our professional ego at the door. I’ve written more about this in a LinkedIn post which you can read here.
The benefits of interprofessional collaboration in health and social care
It’s been proven that when you improve interprofessional collaboration in an organisation that offers health and social care, everyone wins. Client and community outcomes improve, as well as organisational and staff outcomes too.
The World Health Organisation backs this up,
“Collaborative practice strengthens health systems and improves health outcomes.”
It’s a beautiful case of the catchcry, ‘One Team, One Dream’.
We saw just how well we could do this during the COVID-19 pandemic, with professionals coming together, relinquishing their traditional role boundaries and rapidly upskilling to provide essential services like vaccinations and testing/screening (among other services).
As we saw during COVID-19, the benefits of interprofessional collaboration towards a unified goal (addressing patient or participant needs) are many:
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- care and outcomes improve
- resource use is efficient
- there is less duplication of input to achieve an individual’s goals
- professional development and knowledge-sharing explodes.
I have seen this happen time and time again in many health and social care organisations.
When the workforce can focus solely on the goals of the individual receiving care; when they can park their professional ego; when they can describe, share insight into and develop plans for patient or participant care in a language and way that everyone understands; then and only then, outcomes improve for everyone…yes everyone – the individual, each staff member, and the organisation.
Whilst not always an obvious ‘go to’ tactic for improving outcomes, it must be known that interprofessional collaboration is in fact one of the most essential and powerful elements that can, and does, underpin successful workforce and service delivery models.
So it matters – big time.
How did we become so poor at collaborating?
Ok, I know there are a million reasons why we’ve become stuck in our professional silos – there’s funding, politics, policy, regulatory restrictions, professional dominance, and power as a start.
(Read anything by Larkin; Borthwick; King; or Nancarrow if you really want to understand ‘the why’. I love their work.)
But tbh, the eyebrow-raising workshop I mentioned earlier helped me realise a big reason that is clearly still missing and not being addressed. It’s our current inability to look beyond our deeply rooted professional beliefs to the bigger picture.
Let me explain.
Because of the way we are trained in our professional silos – each with their own unique knowledge bases, technology, and language – we don’t know how to see beyond our professional habits of knowing and doing.
We lack the strategies (and perhaps confidence and safety) to leave our professional ego at the door so we can recognise, discuss, and create ways to address the full range of needs of the individuals we serve.
We need to be able to move away from simply recognising and addressing the needs we are traditionally trained to see and address.
Two ways you can start improving collaboration in your organisation today
Improving the way we work together is not impossible. I’ve seen effective interprofessional collaboration in action – and I know you have too.
But let’s be honest. It is not easy. But nothing of significance ever is!
So to get you started, here are two simple ways you can start improving clinical synergies in your organisation and seeing the benefits to the individuals you serve, your staff and your bottom line:
1. Change the lens: Put the individual’s needs at the centre of all discussions and decision making
When grievances were aired in my workshop, I knew exactly how to overcome the angst and change the mood.
We stayed 100 per cent focussed on issues the client was facing – rather than issues they were facing as a professional group.
And something happened.
Eventually they identified amongst themselves that a key barrier to clients achieving their goals was poor collaboration between other allied health disciplines (and themselves).
They agreed it would be far more ideal for their clients if they all played better together.
We then worked through all the ways they could do this better.
2. Make it official: Change the culture from the top down
To the CEOs, school principals, and health, allied health, and social care directors: I urge you to consider the following questions:
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- Are the tenets of interprofessional working reflected in your organisational values and held as personal values by staff?
- Are interprofessional competencies sprinkled, liberally, within all job descriptions for all staff members (and do you hold your staff accountable to these)?
- Have you invested in and operationalised optimal conditions for interprofessional working?
Playing better in the sandpit leads to better outcomes for everyone
All organisations that utilise health and social care professionals need to significantly invest in this space to get the outcomes they want for their clients and their organisation.
I am particularly looking at you: schools, preschools, aged care, public health, disability organisations, primary care and GP clinics…
There will be challenges. But if we nurture interprofessional collaboration in our organisations and build a culture around it, we can get there.
But we won’t get anywhere if we keep working in silos and throwing people under the bus – and neither will the individuals and communities we serve!
Need some help doing this work?
If you’d like to improve the way your organisation works together for the benefit of the individuals you serve, we can help.
At Unplex, we work alongside you and your team to turn your complex problems into solutions you can implement. We do this so health and social care organisations can deliver more and better care to the individuals they serve.
We’d love to get to know you and help you improve your culture of interprofessional collaboration.
Head on over to our Connect page to join our newsletter, or send us an email at hello@unplex.com.au and we’ll be in touch!