Communication, Respect, and Leadership: Interprofessional Collaboration in Hospitals of Rural Ontario

Health care professionals are expected to work collaboratively across diverse settings. In rural hospitals, these professionals face different challenges from their urban colleagues; however, little is known about interprofessional practice in these settings.

Eleven health care professionals from 2 rural interprofessional teams were interviewed about collaborative practice. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.

Common themes included communication, respect, leadership, benefits of interprofessional teams, and the assets and challenges of working in small or rural hospitals. Differences between the cases were apparent in how the members conceptualized their teams, models of which were then compared with an "Ideal Interprofessional Team".

These results suggest that many experienced health care professionals function well in interprofessional teams; yet, they did not likely receive much education about interprofessional practice in their training. Providing interprofessional education to new practitioners may help them to establish this approach early in their careers and build on it with additional experience. Finally, these findings can be applied to address concerns that have arisen from other reports by exploring innovative ways to attract health professionals to communities in rural, remote, and northern areas, as there is a constant need for dietitians and other health care professionals in these practice settings.