Interprofessional collaboration in palliative nursing: what is the patient-family role?

Interprofessional collaboration occurs when health professionals from different disciplines work together to identify needs, solve problems, make joint decisions on how best to proceed, and evaluate outcomes collectively. Interprofessional collaboration supports patient-centred care and takes place through teamwork. Team interactions, wider organizational issues, and environmental structures, such as safety, quality, efficiency and effectiveness issues influence this model of care. These broader contextual influences affect practice where there are tensions between the ideals of interprofessional collaboration and the realities of practice. This is evident when the patient and family position in interprofessional collaboration is considered. This article will discuss factors that affect interprofessional collaboration in relation to patients and families in palliative care. First, a definition of interprofessional collaboration is given, followed by an outline of the need for interprofessional collaboration. A brief discussion of key issues that influence collaboration follows, and a review of the implications for practice is presented.