Interdisciplinary teamwork in the community rehabilitation of older adults: an example of flexible working in primary care

Abstract

This paper presents a section of the findings of a case study of a newly established community rehabilitation team (CRT) comprising physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses. The findings reported here address issues of interdisciplinary teamwork that arose during the project. All eight members of the team were interviewed as well as three ex-team members. The data were collected by semistructured interviews and analysed using thematic content analysis (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). The findings suggest that when recognized barriers to teamwork are eradicated, such as geographical separation and different employers, teams such as the CRT can achieve high levels of teamwork. A problem that took longer for the CRT to resolve, however, was that of flexible working across traditional professional and hierarchical role boundaries. The paper concludes that the difficulties that need to be overcome when a new team and new service are established concurrently, should not be underestimated.

Evidence of collaboration, pooling of resources, learning and role blurring in interprofessional healthcare teams: a realist synthesis

“…For example, role blurring was felt to enhance continuity of care, allow workloads to be shared and aid professional development by helping staff to learn new skills and improve their knowledge (Freeman et al, 2000;Griffiths, Austin, & Luker, 2004;Long et al, 2003;Nancarrow, 2004;Proctor-Childs et al, 1998;Waters & Luker, 1996). However, there was also evidence of negative outcomes of the mechanism, including conflict, anxiety and frustration amongst team members (Fear & de Renzie-Brett, 2007;Jones, 2006;Long et al, 2003;Robinson & Cottrell, 2005).…”

Evidence of a shared purpose, critical reflection, innovation and leadership in interprofessional healthcare teams: a realist synthesis

“…The areas in which team leaders were noted to be lacking were chairmanship or facilitation skills, communication and listening, and coaching ability (Cole & Crichton, 2006;Hall, Weaver, Handfield-Jones, & Bouvette, 2008;Whale, 1993). Different models of leadership were evident, with some teams having shared leadership models rather than a single team leader (Baxter & Brumfitt, 2008;Haward et al, 2003) and others suggesting that teams do not need a leader (Griffiths, Austin, & Luker, 2004;O'Neill & Cowman, 2008).…”

Interdisciplinary teamwork: is the influence of emotional intelligence fully appreciated?

“…The interdisciplinary team is defined as a group of health professionals from different disciplines, who work together sharing responsibility for collaborative decision‐making and the outcomes of client‐focused care (Liedrtka & Whitten 1998). Interdisciplinary teamwork raises questions about partnership working (Leathard 2003) and role understanding including transition and flexibility (Griffiths et al. 2004, Kneafsey et al.…”