Health Science and Medicine: Inter-Professional Collaboration - Assignment Example

?Health science and medicine: Inter-professional collaboration ‘…..working alone with no regular exchanges of experience for mutual improvement can no longer be considered professionally satisfactory’. Working in a team enables the professions to solve ‘complex health problems that cannot be adequately dealt with by one profession alone’. WHO 1999: 135 Introduction: The changing health profiles of individuals has put increased pressure on the national health care systems to offer sophisticated and quality health care services. The changing demographics of the country, requires the administration to offer increased care thus highlighting the need for better coordination between health and social care sectors. Inter-professional collaboration within the field of health and social care has assumed rapid significance over the years, and has received greater impetus from the Government in its bid to modernize healthcare programs offered to the public, in the 21st century, and to improve and encourage better partnerships among various agencies. The key motive behind encouraging inter-professional collaboration within the healthcare and social services field is to rationalize the resources in a manner that enables improved co-ordination, integration and merging of services, organizations as well as health and social care professionals, to offer better services to the public. Such a 'merger' of key services within the field of healthcare is perceived to be highly beneficial for the society since it offers the administration an opportunity to overcome the drawbacks in the individual systems by enhanced collaboration and partnerships across the health care sector (Loxley, 1997; Hudson, 2002). This paper on inter-professional collaboration aims to discuss the various key strategies developed to strengthen inter-professional working within the current UK health and social services sector, and includes a critical review of the strategies so developed, their significance as well as their overall impact. Meaning: The term inter-professional collaboration has been used to describe the collaboration / association of health and social care professionals. In the U.S., it is referred to as inter-disciplinary health care whereby a team of healthcare professionals from diverse fields of expertise collaborate to provide health care to patients (Farrell et al., 2001). In the UK however, the term is used to refer to the interaction between professionals from health and social care sectors, who share a common goal - that of working together to provide ease of access to key health care services to the public (Beattie, 1994). Strategies developed to strengthen inter-professional collaboration within UK health and social care: The National Service Framework in the UK for primary care, introduced a series of initiatives to address the issues related to provision of primary health care to the general public (DH, 2000a). The key objective of the NHS behind the implementation and adoption of such a strategy was to ensure provision of better services through enhanced co-ordination among health and social care professionals, especially considering the heightened need for a holistic patient care in the current environment (DH, 2002). Furthermore, the need for bringing about a change in the current practices was highlighted, since it has been the fundamental principle of primary health care in the UK. The Department of Health also highlighted the benefits of interprofessional collaboration in the field of health care due to its ability to ensure enhanced innovation in service provision and patient care, particularly with regard to management of chronic diseases and self-care (DH, 2002f). Considering the immense benefits of such an approach, various strategies were developed and implemented to ensure increased interprofessional collaboration between health care and social service professionals. The same are discussed in brief, as follows: Reorganization and re-configuration of workforce: The government introduced a novel strategy of increasing collaboration between health care and social care professionals, by introducing a policy of cultural and structural change whereby the responsibilities of health and social care professionals were aligned together across all local levels. This was done by the Department of Health, by entrusting the leadership to PCTs and forging new partnerships with local communities, which further ensured increased collaboration between NHS and the local government (Department of Health, 2001). The development of Care Trusts: In the year 2000, the government announced introduction of policies that would ensure the development of Care Trusts, for the sole purpose of collaborating health and social services into one single organization. Under this policy, the care trusts were described as a key tool of modernizing and revolutionizing the health care system, by merging health and social care sectors, and providing an opportunity for their respective staffs to shape this new organization to suit individual patient needs (DH, 2001: 39). As a consequence of this plan, care trusts were introduced in the year 2002, with a sole purpose of enabling the "commissioning and provision of services to be as integrated as possible... [and] build on existing joint working" (DH, 2003a: 4). The Introduction of Health and Social Care Act (2003): The Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, section 46, establishes clear standards of service provision within the health and social care sector, in a coordinated manner, in order to provide comprehensive care to the patients (DH, 2005c: 8). This new policy aims to adopt a new systems approach to provision of health care services, whereby a common framework and standards will be adopted to enhance the quality of services provided. Significance of the strategies: Collaborative work practices, help in improving the quality of health care provided, by enabling the health and social care professionals across various disciplines, to work in close coordination with each other thus leading to provision of enhanced and effective integrated health outcomes for the communities at large. Such participatory approach is known to address the local health needs of people through effective use of resources and overcome the challenges encountered during service provision in a much better and effective manner (DH, 2000b). Furthermore, it has also been observed that reorganizing of the workforce has resulted in positive results with regard to providing long term care to patients, thus enhancing their quality of life in the process. The collaboration of health and social care professionals ensures provision of emergence care through strong interaction and communication between them. It also leads to rehabilitation of fundamental health care services across various levels (DH, 1996; DH, 1998). Critical review of evidence underpinning the strategies & overall impact: Various researches conducted in this behalf indicate the growing signficance of interprofessional collaborative care and its impact on patients' health outcomes. However, most of such research is based on evaluating, assessing and/or comparing the past and present health outcomes as a result of such collaboration and the impact of policy initiatives on health care as a whole. The impact of such collaborative strategies on development of effective care models beyond the institutional settings however, is limited (Bourgeault & Mulvane, 2006). Studies have indicated that the impact of collaborative care models on health outcomes is largely different and is dependent on the structure and composition of health and social care teams, as well as on the health care needs of the population in question, along with the availability of infrastructure and support services from local communities (Drinka and Clark, 2000). Most of the studies have highlighted the significance of team work in generating improved patient outcomes; however the exact impact of the relationship between the two has not yet been clearly established. It has also been observed, that the implementation of interprofessional care models have resulted in increased effectiveness in providing effective patient care and has accounted for greater satisfaction among the patients, along with other key benefits such as a drastic reduction in health care costs, due to better utilization of resources in the practice settings (CHSRF, 2006). The increasing importance of collaborative and interprofessional health care provision has facilitated increased effectiveness in provision of care and effective management of resources, thus pushing the boundaries of professionalism than never before. The policy initiatives through institutional and regulatory reforms has fostered increased relationship between health and social care sectors thus, ensuring the successful implementation of collaborative care models. References: Beattie, A., (1994). Healthy alliances or dangerous liasions? The challenge of working together in health promotion, in A. Leathard (ed.), Going inter-professional working together for health and welfare, London: Routledge. Bourgeault, I. L., Mulvane, G., (2006). Collaborative health care teams in Canada and USA: Confronting the structural embeddedness of medical dominance. Health Sociology Review, 15(5), Dec 2006, pp. 481-495 CHSRF. (June 2006). Policy synthesis – “Teamwork in healthcare: promoting effective teamwork in healthcare in Canada”. DH (1996). In the patient's interest: Multi-professional working across organisational boundaries. London: The Stationery Office DH (1998). Partnership in action: New opportunities for joint working between health and social services - a discussion document. London: The Stationery Office DH (2001) Modernising Regulation in the Health Professions. London: The Stationery Office DH (2000a). A Health Service of all the talents: Developing the NHS workforce. Consultation ocument on the Review of Workforce Planning. London: The Stationery Office DH (2000). A Health Service of all the talents: Developing the NHS workforce. Consultation Document on the Review of Workforce Planning. London: The Stationery Office DH (2002). Chronic disease management and self-care - national service frameworks: A practical aid to implementation in primary care, London: DH. DH (2005). Standards for Better Health. London: The Stationery Office Drinka, T., Clark, P., (2000). Health care teamworks: Interdisciplinary practice and teaching, Westport, CT: Auburn House Farrell, M., Schmitt, M., and Heinemann, G., (2001). Informal roles and states of interdisciplinary team development, Journal of Interprofessional Care, 15 (30), pp. 291-95 Hudson, B., (2002). Interprofessionality in health and social care: The Achilles' heel of partnership, Journal of Interprofessional care 16(1), pp. 7-17 Loxley, A., (1997). Collaboration in health and welfare: Working with difference, London: Jessica Kingsley Department of Health (2001). Shifting the balance of power [Online] Available at: http://www.nhshistory.net/shiftingthebalance.pdf [Accessed: April 5, 2012] DH (2002). Learning from Bristol: The Department of Health’s Response to the Report of the Public Inquiry into children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984-1995. [Online] Available at: http://www.publications.doh.gov.uk/bristolinquiryresponse/bristolresponsefull.pdf [Accessed: April 5, 2012] DH (2003) Care Trusts: Background Briefing [Online] Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/43/26/04074326.pdf [Accessed: April 5, 2012] Read More