Care planning and decision-making in teams in Swedish elderly care: A study of interprofessional collaboration and professional boundaries

Abstract

In front-line practice, joint working between different professionals in health/social care and rehabilitation is regarded as a means to reach a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the older care recipients, leading to decisions on appropriate care and services. The aim of this study was to examine professional collaboration and professional boundaries in interprofessional care planning teams. Two different care planning teams were studied, one performing care planning in the homes of older individuals and the other performing care planning for older people in hospital wards. The empirical data consisted of audio-recorded care planning meetings and interviews with the professionals in the teams. The integration between the professionals involved was most noticeable in the investigation and assessment phase, while it was lower in the planning phase and almost non-existent in decision-making. The home care planning team tended to work in a more integrated manner than the discharge planning team. The importance of clarifying the roles of all professions concerned with needs assessment and care planning for older people became evident in this study.

Interdisciplinary collaboration in reablement – a qualitative study

“…Teamwork might be described as a continuum from multidisciplinary teams, where professionals are working almost professionally independent, through interdisciplinary teams, and finally to the transdisciplinary model where team-members collaborate most closely with each other 15,19. Most studies seem to use the term multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary, but few seem to have a clear awareness of or explicit definition of multi-, inter- or transdisciplinary team 10–13,18,20,21. Some studies emphasize that the more signs there are that transdisciplinary team collaboration is developing, the more efficiency and thriving there is in the team 19.…”

Interprofessional primary care team meetings: a qualitative approach comparing observations with personal opinions

“…However, there seems to be a lack of studies attempting to directly observe such practices (19), and most of the existing studies have applied a survey approach or only included a small number of different professions. Overall, there seems to be a lack of studies based on observations of interprofessional teamwork combined with interviews (20). The aim of the present study was therefore to examine current practices in IPT meetings in primary care, as well as ‘how’ they are conducted, as well as to explore health care professionals’ personal opinions regarding the current practice.…”

Developing health and social care planning in collaboration

“…Additionally, the often complex individual care needs are met by a range of different professionals, each with their own professional culture. Research conducted in some of the Nordic countries indicate that this specialization widens the gap between hospital specialists and community care (Duner, 2013;Johannessen & Steihaug, 2014). In an attempt to overcome these problems, each care provider's function and responsibilities have been clarified through regulations (SOSFS, 2005).…”