Interprofessional Health Care

As Australia is developing as a leader in providing high quality health care, there are still crucial challenges when administering safe health services in a country that experiences demographic change, evolving technology and increase in health care costs. To better meet the needs of contemporary society and future challenges, governments and health care providers need to look at the provision of health care in Australia differently. An approach that has had positive outcomes within Australia and international success as well is through Interprofessional education fostering collaborative practice. While there are growing interest in models of Interprofessional education especially among universities such as Victoria University and University of Queensland for example, there is also a reluctance and confusion about the application and potential outcomes within the Australian health and education context.

In the case study of diabetic patient ‘Julie’ provided in Interprofessional Collaboration from Victoria University, the communication with the paramedic and the admission’s nurse was brief. The paramedic’s soul job at the incoming patient stage was to inform the hospital of Julie’s current condition and provide relevant details that can further assist the health care professionals with her future diagnosis and care. Communication is ‘expressing one’s opinions competently to colleagues, listening to team members and demonstrating effective communication across service, organisational and discipline boundaries’, Judy Stone, Interprofessional Learning Coordinator ACT Health, December 2009. Communication is an essential part of the human connection. Ineffective communication in a health care setting has resulted in contributing to me...

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... confirmed. Such sterotyping and misconceptions within interprofessional practice groups may lead to poor communication, tension amongst team members, comprised patient care and work dissatisfaction. Ultimately, this sterotyping may affect the ability and willingness of nurses and other team members to participate effectively and may negatively affect their ability to gain knowledge from other healthcare professional. The increase awareness of other professionals roles in the healthcare setting and to reduce potential misconceptions nursing education programs such as Victoria University, Professional Studies provide learning opportunities that enable students to become knowledgeable about the roles, responsibilities and contributions of other team members. Effective team functioning and collaborative practice will lead to cost effective, high quality care.