Inter-Professional Healthcare: A Case Study

The assignment critically evaluates the key professional issues that underpin contemporary inter-professional health care practice at organizational, team and individual level. Discussion Nijagal et al has provided evidence that when professional from different expertise collaborate with each other for inter-professional healthcare practice, it maximizes the delivering best possible care to the service user (Nijagal, Kupperman, Nakagawa, & Cheng, 2015). stated that enhanced services can be made available to the service user through inter-professional working from organizations (

Introduction
Inter-professional healthcare involving different disciplines like nurses, doctors, pharmacists,
dentist, physiotherapist, etc. has become increasingly important in recent times with people
showing up with multiple and complex health issues. The assignment is prepared to
understand the different aspects and issues of inter-professional practice. Several issues are
confronted at different levels of inter-professional care. The assignment critically evaluates
the key professional issues that underpin contemporary inter-professional health care practice
at organizational, team and individual level. Lastly, the assignment is concluded with key
findings.
Discussion
Nijagal et al has provided evidence that when professional from different expertise
collaborate with each other for inter-professional healthcare practice, it maximizes the
delivering best possible care to the service user (Nijagal, Kupperman, Nakagawa, & Cheng,
2015). The cumulative participation and feedback from different from several experts from
different specializations becomes a source of excellent service provision. Therefore, as
Babiker et al. stated that enhanced services can be made available to the service user through
inter-professional working from organizations (Babiker, et al., 2014). But the healthcare
professions work on an autonomous relationship between the professional and service user.
This relationship is essential in providing care but it is challenged by in many aspects of
collaboration and partnership working. There are various professional issues that underpin
contemporary inter-professional health care practice including, nursing, medicine, dentistry,
pharmacy, etc. at different levels.

Issues faced at the organizational level
Clarity of roles and responsibilities- It is essential to understand that the
professional from departments working together understand and appreciate each other’s roles
and responsibilities clearly. The interdisciplinary team which involves varying disciplines
like physiotherapy and dentistry sector may enhance the complexity of operations which may
lead to duplication of task or redundancy. Therefore, when the professionals are clear and
well-informed about their own and other professional role in the team by the organization,
then the outcome is enhanced, fast and improved quality of care.
Economical and regulatory resources- While building the inter-professional team,
the organization also faces restrictions in monetary and regulatory terms. Organizations can
only promote interdisciplinary culture practice when they have adequate financial resources.
For example the equipment required for dentistry department along with full pharmacy may
go over budgeted for the organization. Also, it requires that specific guidelines and protocols
are stated in the organizational policy pertaining to inter-professional partnership working.
Legal framework- According to Lahey and Curries the healthcare organization which
ensures complete adherences to legislations, code of conduct and policies especially when
dealing with partnership working can enjoy successful application of inter-professional
practice. The interdisciplinary team should be built and work by complying with all the
relevant legal issues (Lahey & Currie, 2005)
Conflict resolution mechanism- The organisations which has a strong conflict
resolution strategy and appropriate protocols to resolve conflict or disagreements in the team
will have increased chances of achieving successful teamwork. The hierarchical system in the
professional statuses of different healthcare practitioners especially leads to disagreements
and come as a challenge for junior members of the team to play their role with full autonomy.

Organisational hierarchies – The hierarchical structure of health care organisation has
been as an obstruction in the proper functioning of the team where all members’ views are
acknowledged. For example nurses and pharmacits are seen below in the hierarchy as
compared to the other professions like medicine and dentistry.
Training and orientation- According to Irvine et. al, the organizations that provide
suitable training to their professional especially for inter-professional collaboration. The new
members should be oriented for the same (IRVINE, KERRIDGE, MCPHEE, & FREEMAN,
2002).
Issues faced at the team level
Shared purpose- according to D’amour and Oandasan, it is important that all the team
members belonging to different profession must agree on a well-defined and clearly stated
goal. When there is a common purpose defined between the team, it will help all the
professionals to move in the same direction and perform their role (D'amour & Oandasan,
2005).
Leadership clarity- According to Mitchell et al., leadership is one of the core base of the
team-based health care. When the members of the team have certainty with the leadership
and clarity of roles, the functioning becomes smooth without any conflicts. A well-led team
will be able to remain guided and motivated to provide the best possible care for the patient
(Mitchell, Wynia, Golden, McNellis, Okun, & Webb, 2012).

Size of the team- It is important that adequate members come to collaborate with each
other as an interdisciplinary team so that adequate professional are available to play their
respective role. If a team is too small, it will build the pressure of workload on the members
and if it is too large, it will lead to emotions of uselessness and unproductivity among the
members. Therefore an adequately sized team underpins contemporary inter-professional
health care practice.
Adequate information sharing- The inter-professional practice also requires adequate
and strong sharing of information between all the members of the team. In healthcare,
exchange of timely information between different departments is crucial to achieve the
desired outcomes. According to Gawande et al., when the required information is not shared
or ineffectively exchanged, it can result in delay, interference or error in care delivery
(Gawande, Zinner, Studdert, & Brennan, 2003). It becomes significant that all the
professionals are familiar with the relevant electronic and other record-keeping systems of
their and their team’s use to make sure that communication is not hindered because of
technical constraints.
Effective communication system- An efficient flow of communication is essential
for functioning of an organization but it becomes way more significant when several
professional from different disciplines work together for as shared goal
(INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE IN HEALTHCARE, 2016).
According to Smith, inefficient communication system between different departments can
hinder care of service-user and risk his/her safety (Smith, n.d.). Therefore, the professional
should agree upon different mechanism to maintain communication. Like, according to
Pollard, Bugler, and Hayes regular meetings can be conducted which should be attended by
all professionals involved in care delivery. When an effective communication system is not

maintained between the team, then the sharing of information becomes a chance of being
present at the right place at the right time (Pollard, Bugler, & Hayes, 2016).
Varying professional priorities and limits
The common goal of the inter-professional team in practice is to meet the needs of the service
users and while doing so different professionals may prioritise their own professional
perspectives over others. Like the medical professional will mainly be concerned about the
physical symptoms or disease advancement and the occupational therapists will primarily be
interested in delivering a supportive environment favourable for a person’s ADLs. While
doing so the opinions of different professionals may be contradictory. At other occasions, the
opinions of some professionals might not be taken as seriously as they expect it to. Therefore
as Sommerfeldt said that in interprofeesional practice, all the professionals must understand
and appreciate each other’s contribution to interprofessional care (Sommerfeldt, 2013). Booth
and Hewison mentioned another aspect of inter-professional practice, in some contexts, a
single area of care may fall under different professional area, in that case conflict may arise
between professional regarding the overlap of their territory (Booth & Hewison, 2002). For
example overlap arises in the discipline of physiotherapy and occupational therapy. But
according to Parr with time and exposure the overlap becomes a part of the inter-professional
practice and the professionals regard is as routine component of practice (Parr, 2011)
Lack of coordination- according to Zwarenstein, the professionals must put their
maximum effort to coordinate with other members of the inter-professional practice in order
to make the whole process hassle free (ZWARENSTEIN, 2001b).

Issues faced at individual team members level
Loyalty issue- The professionals should not split the loyalties between team and own
discipline. They should try to incorporate the loyalties of their discipline with the shared goal
of the inter-professional care.
Competitiveness- In the inter-professional working, several professional are involved
which may lead ego issues and competitiveness. The professional must think that they are not
working against each other; instead they are working together for a single goal. They should
be keen on accepting suggestions and criticism from professionals of other disciplines.
Discrimination- Evidence suggests that people face gender-based or race-based
discrimination in healthcare organization. So people at their own level should practice fair
treatment to the diverse member of the team also. The Australian legislation as well as the
organizational policies mandate equality. The discriminated individuals will not be able to
provide good service provision and coordinate with other members.
Trust- It is important that the different professionals involved in the inter-professional care
must trust the process of collaboration and its objectives. Like a professional from pharmacy
field may fail to understand the importance of physiotherapy. It can only be possible when
the professionals understand that to provide the best and appropriate care to a service user
they will require assistance from other professionals of different discipline.
Conclusion
Inter-professional practice is essential to provide the best possible care to the service users.
There are several issues at each level which must be studied and managed in the healthcare
sector. The healthcare organizations must define clear roles and responsibilities of the

different professionals in an interdisciplinary team. The professional should be adequately
trained for such collaborations and the organizations must have strong conflict resolution
mechanisms to resolve disagreements. The organizations must comply with the legal
framework during the collaboration process and practice. At the team level, all the
professionals must agree to a shared goal and should coordinate with each other. They should
timely exchange information and maintain an effective flow of communication. The leader
should be able to motivate the interdisciplinary team to work in the same direction in spite of
different professional perspectives and priorities. The professionals working in an
interdisciplinary team involving professional from highly acknowledged fields like surgery
and medicine should especially avoid discrimination, ego clash and competitiveness. They
should trust the collaboration practice and care and put their loyalties into it.
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