[libribook.com] Traumatic Scar Tissue Management 1st Edition

Interprofessional Collaboration
Interprofessional collaboration is a mutual and coordinated approach to shared
decision-making around health and social issues (CIHC 2010).
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines collaborative practice in
healthcare as occurring ‘when multiple health workers from different
professional backgrounds provide comprehensive services by working with
patients, their families, caregivers and communities to deliver the highest quality
of care across settings.’
Traumatic scar clients presenting with complex health needs and complex
medical issues can be best served by interprofessional teams (Bridges et al.
2011). An interprofessional approach allows for the sharing of expertise and
perspectives to form a common goal of restoring or maintaining an individual’s
health and improving outcomes (Barker & Oandasan 2005, Lumague et al. 2008,
Bridges et al. 2011).
Patients receive safer, high quality care when health professionals work
effectively in a team, communicate productively and understand each other’s
roles (Rao 2003, Morrison 2007, Bridges et al. 2011). Conversely, poor
interprofessional collaboration can have a negative impact on the quality of
patient care (Zwarenstein et al. 2005).
Successful collaborative interactions exhibit a blending of professional cultures
and are achieved though cooperation, effective communication, knowledge and
information sharing, collaborative decision-making and mutual trust and respect.
Understanding the professions of others and your own role in the healthcare
team is critical. It is this partnership that creates an interprofessional team
designed to work on common goals to improve patient outcomes (Bridges et al.
2011).
Skills in working as an interprofessional team, gained through interprofessional
education, are important for high quality care. Training future healthcare
providers to work in such teams will help facilitate this model resulting in
improved healthcare outcomes for patients (Bridges et al. 2011).
In 1998, The College of Family Physicians in Canada published an article, the