The paradoxical effects of workforce shortages on rural interprofessional practice

Abstract

We found that clinicians often invested in interprofessional practice because of the need to manage intense workloads and this necessitated sharing of responsibilities across disciplines and blurring of role boundaries. Paradoxically, participants noted that workload pressures hampered interprofessional working if there were long-term skill shortages. Sharing workload and responsibility is an important motivator for rural practitioners to engage in interprofessional practice; however, this driver is only effective under circumstances where there are sufficient resources to facilitate collaboration. In the context of intransient resource challenges, rural health service managers would be best to focus on enabling IPP through facilitating role understanding and respect between clinicians. This is most feasible via informal workplace learning and allowing time for teams to reflect on collaborative processes.

Rural and Remote Registered Nurses' Perception of Working Beyond Their Legislated Scope of Practice

“…RNs working in primary care, particularly in fly-in communities that are distant from advanced referral centres, are frequently required to be flexible in their practice. Although flexible scopes of practice for rural/remote clinicians are considered positively, they place undue stress on practitioners when they are compensating for staff shortages or operating beyond their skill level (McNeil et al 2015). The higher demands related to gaining the necessary knowledge, skills and overall preparedness for practice in remote settings are considerable .…”

Leveraging a contextually sensitive approach to rural geriatric interprofessional education

“…An abundance of studies indicate that IPE initiatives enhance interprofessional communication and team work, 1,2,14,18,25 assist with role clarification of health professionals, 4,18 increase personal confidence and competence in interprofessional practice, 6,13,14,17,24,25 and provide a valuable opportunity to learn from and foster respect between interprofessional team members. 1,2,4,[13][14][15]17,18,24,25 In addition, scholars have proposed that IPE allows members of different professions to engage in collaborative problem solving and joint decision-making that centralizes the patient within healthcare practice. 1,13,18,20,24,25 This approach has been linked to improved health outcomes 1,4,12,26 and patient safety, 4,26 while reducing overall healthcare costs.…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10] Although IPE has gained recognition on a national and international level, the mixed effectiveness of IPE initiatives has acted as a barrier to adequately prepare health professionals for practice, 6,[11][12][13][14][15] especially with older adults in rural settings. 3,16 Despite contemporary scholars emphasizing the importance of aligning IPE initiatives with complex healthcare contexts, [17][18][19][20][21] a gap still remains regarding how to develop effective rural geriatric IPE initiatives. 3 This paper aims to close this gap by first reviewing the IPE movement that supports the symbiotic relationship between IPE initiatives and rural older adult care and then examining how contextually sensitive rural gerontological health research can enhance IPE initiatives.…”

A model of multidisciplinary professional development for health professionals in rural Canterbury, New Zealand

“…rural practitioners face more difficulties in accessing continuing professional development programmes than their urban colleagues. [1][2][3][4][5][6] an initiative by the Pegasus Clinical Quality and education team aimed to provide more satisfactory and accessible professional development for these rural areas. Three new groups were proposed: in Kaikoura, rotherham/Hanmer Springs and amberley/Cheviot.…”