Developing and maintaining collaborative practice: Exploring perspectives from dietetics and speech pathology about...

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Dietitians and speech pathologists frequently collaborate in healthcare settings.
• Understanding factors that facilitate effective interprofessional practice is crucial for optimal patient care.
• Existing research often focuses on structural aspects of collaboration, overlooking relational dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore dietitian and speech pathologist perspectives on successful collaborative practice.
• To identify key elements that promote and sustain interprofessional collaboration.
• To inform strategies for enhancing collaborative practice in academic and clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative research design utilizing collaborative dialogical inquiry.
• Data collection through research reflections and focus group transcriptions.
• Dialogical and iterative analysis of qualitative data.

Main Results:

• Shared purpose, role clarity, and communication are foundational.
• Curiosity, willingness, and momentum emerged as core facilitators of effective collaboration.
• Findings are relevant to collaboration within and across healthcare organizations and university settings.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights the significance of less visible, relational aspects like curiosity, willingness, and momentum.
• These factors are vital for developing and maintaining patient-centered collaborative practice.
• The findings offer reflective questions to guide ongoing improvement of interprofessional collaboration.