Collaborating in healthcare delivery: exploring conceptual differences at the “bedside”

Abstract

Calls for greater collaboration amongst health professionals and for programmes to support this are not new, nor are they likely to diminish. While various interventions have been adopted to improve collaboration, the literature suggests that these have neither been well-informed with a strong conceptual base nor have they accounted for the context in which the health professionals work. In this study, interviews of senior doctors and nurses in two hospital-based services explored experiences of interprofessional collaboration and the processes involved. A framework based on activity theory was used to analyse the data. The data suggest a dichotomy between nurses as collectivist, protocol and systems-driven and doctors as individualist and autonomy-driven, although this played out differently in each service. Unless such complexities and contextual factors are addressed in the preparation for collaboration it will continue to fall short.

• Activity theory
• interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• teamworking

Declaration of interest

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

Notes

¹Participants are identified with an alphanumeric code. The first letter identifies the participant as Doctor or Nurse, the second as working in the Neonatal or Oncology setting.

²Clinical protocols or guidelines are written, evidence-based policy or procedural documents used to prescribe approved methods of delivering specific clinical treatments or procedures. Some allocate roles and responsibility to specific health professionals in different clinical situations.