An Editorial by Lesley Bainbridge, UBC College of Health Disciplines
My interest in interprofessional collaborative practice stems back a long way to my days as a clinician. When working with the frail elderly, we had an amazing team comprising medicine, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, pharmacy, psychology, psychiatry, nutrition, music therapy, pastoral care, recreation and I’m sure there were more. We met formally and informally. We loved the residents. We had fun. We were all competent in our own professions and comfortable in our professional skins. And, we were polite to each other.
My mother always told me “good manners will take you anywhere” and in my life so far, she was right. So why do we think it’s okay to shout at colleagues? To devalue their contributions? To fight over turf? To ignore family and “patient” involvement in the team? That’s not good manners.
Today we are resurrecting an old concept. Interprofessional education for collaborative patient-centred care is all the rage. Governments, educators, CEOs, practitioners alike are beginning to know the words and to attribute meaning to them. Research is emerging that suggests strongly that better collaboration and communication across professions improves patient safety, at times even saving lives. If we feel valued and respected by our colleagues, we’re happier in our work and more likely to stay in our workplace and our professions. Hence a positive link to health human resource issues of recruitment and retention.
So while we need to develop interprofessional curricula, develop interprofessional practice sites, and support and reinforce collaborative patient-centred practice, maybe at the root of it all is plain good manners.
** Reprinted with Permission **
