Identifying intangible assets in interprofessional healthcare organizations: feasibility of an asset inventory

ABSTRACT

Healthcare systems increasingly use business models that focus on tangible assets such as finances and facilities. Yet intangible assets, such as values, relationships and human capital, remain critical for understanding the worth of interprofessional healthcare education and collaboration. We implemented a novel interprofessional collaborative pilot exercise to explore the feasibility and usefulness of an Asset Inventory–using KJ methodology and an appreciative inquiry perspective–to identify and better understand intangible assets and their value in interprofessional healthcare education/training organizations, for planning, and as a first step toward informing strategic decision-making. Twenty-eight faculty physicians, nurses, psychosocial and family faculty, educators, health services researchers and administrative staff participated. Participants identified intangible assets in five categories: Philosophy/Mission, Practice/Practical Strategies, Human Capital, Scholarship/Research Productivity, and Partnerships. Participants reported a greater understanding of intangible assets, and increased enthusiasm, organizational confidence, and stakeholder ownership for healthcare education programs. While this study is preliminary, the Asset Inventory may prove useful to enhance understanding of the importance of intangible assets within interprofessional healthcare education/training organizations, to inform planning and decision-making, to identify and foster interprofessional collaborative capacity across clinical and training settings, and to leverage intangible assets in today’s rapidly changing business-focused healthcare systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• faculty development
• appreciative inquiry
• intangible assets
• asset inventory

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the late Dennis Drotar, PhD for his valuable insights; Allyson McCrary, BA and Donnah Gallett, BA for their assistance with the learning exercise; and the Institute for Professionalism & Ethical Practice faculty, colleagues, and leaders for their enthusiastic participation and sharing of ideas.

Disclosure Statement

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

Ethical approval

The Boston Children’s Hospital IRB was consulted. They considered this an educational quality improvement exercise and determined IRB approval was not necessary.

Previous presentations

Preliminary findings were presented as an oral abstract at the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare Research Forum, New Haven, CT, June 2016, and at the National Academies of Practice 2017 Annual Meeting & Forum, Philadelphia, PA, March 2017.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.