Introduction
Caring for patients with complex needs requires a multidisciplinary approach. Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) helps alleviate gaps in care delivery, ensuring that services are holistic, efficient, satisfying, and of consistent quality. However, implementing IPC is often challenging due to a broad spectrum of barriers at the inter-personal, organizational, or system level. Identifying and addressing these challenges will support collaborative practices and contribute to better patient health outcomes.
Barriers and Challenges
A major barrier to effective IPC implementation at the organizational level is constrained human resources. Rawlinson et al. (2021) found that limited time and skilled staff contribute to heavy workload, which is a threat to IPC in primary care. For effective collaboration, certain organizational aspects must be restructured and teams reorganized and trained on IPC training; all these factors are greatly constrained by time and resource limitations. At the inter-individual level, poor communication presents a critical challenge to collaborative practice. Inflexible role boundaries that involve different managers hamper team cohesion and interaction that are required in a functioning IPC (Wei et al., 2020). Strict compliance with the medical hierarchy hampers communication between professionals and limits role delegation and referrals, affecting care continuity and outcomes. Concerns over losing professional identity and different accountabilities may limit collaboration in primary care settings.
Inaccessibility of other professionals, such as physicians and pharmacists, because of geographically distant departments or disciplines is also a barrier to IPC. Depreciation of nurses by physicians based on skills also affects respect and creates an environment of mistrust that impedes IPC (Rawlinson et al., 2021). Increased workload and limited staff create the perception that IPC is cumbersome and too resource-intensive to execute. At the system level, limited funding and low prioritization of collaborative projects hamper IPC activities (Wei et al., 2020). The lack of compensation of incentives for participating in IPC programs is also a key barrier.
Conclusion
Working collaboratively has many benefits to patients and healthcare professionals. However, various obstacles and challenges at the system, institutional, and inter-personal levels limit the implementation of IPC. The primary barriers include resource and time limitations, inadequate communication, the lack of training on IPC, depreciation of other professionals, and absence of incentives. Addressing these barriers would create an environment of trust that is essential for IPC.
References
Rawlinson, C., Carron, T., Cohidon, C., Arditi, C., Hong, Q. N., Pluye, P., Peytremann-Bridevaux, I., & Gille, I. (2021). An Overview of reviews on interprofessional collaboration in primary care: Barriers and facilitators. International Journal of Integrated Care, 21(2), 32-46. Web.
Wei, H., Corbett, R. W., Ray, J., & Wei, T. L. (2020). A culture of caring: the essence of healthcare interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 34(3), 324-31. Web.