Narrative in interprofessional education and practice: implications for professional identity, provider–patient communication and teamwork

Abstract

Health and social care professionals increasingly use narrative approaches to focus on the patient and to communicate with each other. Both effective interprofessional education (IPE) and practice (IPP) require recognizing the various values and voices of different professions, how they relate to the patient’s life story, and how they interact with each other at the level of the healthcare team. This article analyzes and integrates the literature on narrative to explore: self-narrative as an expression of one’s professional identity; the co-creation of the patient’s narrative by the professional and the patient; and the interprofessional multi-vocal narrative discourse as co-constructed by members of the healthcare team. Using a narrative approach to thinking about professional identity, provider–patient communication, and interprofessional teamwork expands our thinking about both IPE and IPP by providing new insights into the nature of professional practice based on relationships to oneself, the patient, and others on the team. How professionals define themselves, gather and present information from the patient, and communicate as members of a clinical team all have important dimensions that can be revealed by a narrative approach. Implications and conclusions for the further development of the narrative approach in IPE and IPP are offered.

• Interprofessional education
• interprofessional practice
• narrative analysis

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented in a symposium on “Interdisciplinary and International Approaches to Narrative Gerontology: Expanding the Discourse on Aging and Older Adults” at the 65th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Diego, CA, 14–18 November, 2012. The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on an earlier draft.