Collaboration among eldercare workers: barriers, facilitators and supporting processes

Abstract

To retain qualified care workers and to ensure high-quality care for residents in eldercare homes, well-functioning collaboration among care workers is pivotal. This study aims to identify barriers and facilitators of collaboration among eldercare workers and to describe the processes leading to well-functioning collaboration. We collected focus group data from 33 eldercare workers from seven Danish eldercare homes. We found that collaboration was hampered by a number of formal and informal divisions among care workers. To ensure well-functioning collaboration, social and professional relations among care workers needed to be dealt with actively by care workers and by managers. The analysis showed that managers are essential for creating a well-functioning framework around the collaboration between care workers by providing guidelines and procedures for working across various divisions, by being attentive to care workers and taking decisive action when needed and by dealing with conflicts in the workgroups.

Revisiting Relational Coordination: A Systematic Review

“…Findings have supported this aspect of the theory in airlines, in early intervention agencies and in health care (Bright, 2012;Derrington, 2012;Gittell, 2001). More broadly, relational approaches to leadership were positively were positively associated with relational coordination in child care , elder care (Jakobsen et al, 2018), education (Van Rooyen, 2018), and construction (Hellenes & Thrap-Meyer, 2017). In addition, nurse representation in top leadership roles was positively associated with relational coordination across health care professions (Mark et al, 2007).…”

“…While few studies have been conducted thus far, the findings have been consistent. In airlines (Gittell, 2000), surgical care (Gittell et al, 2010), and elder care (Jakobsen et al, 2018), proactive horizontal conflict resolution was found to be positively associated with relational coordination across roles. Exploring the reverse causal path, a study of hospital care found that relational coordination was associated with fewer conflicts between employees and managers and with fewer strikes (Ekwueme, 2018).…”

“…Schölmerich et al (2014) supported this finding in a study of collaboration between hospital-based and community-based midwives and Solberg et al (2014Solberg et al ( , 2015 identified the absence of inclusive meetings as a barrier to improving relational coordination. Huddles with structured agendas likewise strengthened relational coordination in primary care (Cromp et al, 2015), while shared meetings were positively associated with relational coordination among elder care workers (Jakobsen et al, 2018), and structured interprofessional bedside rounds were associated with sustained positive changes in relational coordination (Abu-Rish Blakeney et al, 2019). Last, Derrington (2012) found that open houses and community events held by hospitals for early intervention agencies were associated with higher levels of relational coordination between the two types of organizations.…”

“…Since then, this relationship has been well tested with 22 reported findings. Shared protocols were associated with higher levels of relational coordination among members of health care provider teams (Aeyels et al, 2019;Hustoft et al, 2018;Jakobsen et al, 2018;Solberg et al, 2015), between teachers and parents in the education sector , between educators and mental health providers (Parsons, 2012), and among staff in accounting firms (Fu, 2014). However, there have also been a few studies with null findings (Cromp et al, 2015;Deneckere et al, 2012;Seys et al, 2019).…”

Antecedents and Contextual Factors Affecting Occupational Turnover among Registered Nurses in Public Hospitals in Hong Kong: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

“…The contextual factors that adversely affect nurses' willingness to remain in their positions must be eliminated. This approach will support healthcare workers' commitment and engagement in their careers [27], which have been suggested, along with enhanced satisfaction and motivation, to significantly bolster the retention of nurses in healthcare settings and prevent a dearth of talent [28].…”