Developing standards for an integrated approach to workplace facilitation for interprofessional teams in health and social care contexts: a Delphi study

ABSTRACT

Integration of health and social care forms part of health and social care policy in many countries worldwide in response to changing health and social care needs. The World Health Organization’s appeal for systems to manage the global epidemiologic transition advocates for provision of care that crosses boundaries between primary, community, hospital, and social care. However, the focus on structural and process changes has not yielded the full benefit of expected advances in care delivery. Facilitating practice in the workplace is a widely recognised cornerstone for developments in the delivery of health and social care as collaborative and inclusive relationships enable frontline staff to develop effective workplace cultures that influence whether transformational change is achieved and maintained. Workplace facilitation embraces a number of different purposes which may not independently lead to better quality of care or improved patient outcomes. Holistic workplace facilitation of learning, development, and improvement supports the integration remit across health and social care systems and avoids duplication of effort and waste of valuable resources. To date, no standards to guide the quality and effectiveness of integrated facilitation have been published. This study aimed to identify key elements constitute standards for an integrated approach to facilitating work-based learning, development, improvement, inquiry, knowledge translation, and innovation in health and social care contexts using a three rounds Delphi survey of facilitation experts from 10 countries. Consensus about priority elements was determined in the final round, following an iteration process that involved modifications to validate content. The findings helped to identify key qualities and skills facilitators need to support interprofessional teams to flourish and optimise performance. Further research could evaluate the impact of skilled integrated facilitation on health and social care outcomes and the well-being of frontline interprofessional teams.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated facilitation
• interprofessional care
• work-based learning
• Delphi survey
• facilitation standards
• interprofessional facilitation

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the members of the Delphi panel, who with sincere devotion gave freely of their time to contribute, evaluate, and validate the elements included in the standards for integrated facilitation. We are grateful to the Leads of International and National Professional Networks for their support in raising awareness of the study.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

The authors wish to thank Health Education Kent Surrey Sussex for supporting this study.

Notes

1. Immediate changes in the people facilitated, their contexts, and systems.

2. Deeper, longer term changes in the people facilitated, their contexts, and systems.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank Health Education Kent Surrey Sussex for supporting this study.