Inter-Organizational Collaboration: The Process of Creating a Joint Statement.

Area of Science:

• Interprofessional education and practice
• Collaborative goal setting in allied health
• School-based health and education services

Background:

• Students with disabilities require team-based support.
• Occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology (SLP) professionals formed an interprofessional (IP) workgroup.
• The workgroup focused on student-centered collaborative goal writing in school settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop practical guidelines for interprofessional collaborative goal writing in schools.
• To address barriers to effective teaming among school-based practitioners.
• To summarize best practices for interprofessional collaboration in special education.

Main Methods:

• An interprofessional workgroup engaged in collaborative reflection and discussion.
• Literature review of best practices in healthcare and special education.
• Development of a shared goal and common language across professions.

Main Results:

• A consensus document, the Joint Statement on Interprofessional Collaborative Goals in School-Based Practice, was created.
• The statement was endorsed by three professional organizations.
• Guidelines were disseminated to school-based practitioners via organizational websites.

Conclusions:

• An innovative interprofessional, inter-organizational process was used to develop practical guidelines.
• The workgroup successfully created and disseminated a consensus document for school-based teams.
• Professional development materials were created and presented nationally to OT, PT, and SLP practitioners.