Multidisciplinary collaborative maternity care in Canada: easier said than done.
OBJECTIVE
To describe care provider attitudes towards multidisciplinary collaborative maternity care in Canada and the factors influencing such care from the perspective of members of national professional associations of care providers.


METHODS
A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Leaders of national associations nominated key members, who were invited to participate in semi-structured telephone interviews.


RESULTS
Twenty-five participants from six national care provider associations (family physicians, obstetricians, registered midwives, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and rural physicians) were interviewed. Participants described at least one of two main benefits of collaborative maternity care: a partial solution to the human resources shortage in maternity care, and improved maternity care for women. Despite their belief that collaboration is needed, participants expressed concern about the effects of collaboration on their practice. In particular, some participants were concerned about how collaborative models could support woman-centred care or respond to local community needs and promote continuity of care. Significant barriers to collaboration include structural factors (fee structure, liability issues) and interdisciplinary rivalry between groups of providers (turf protection, lack of mutual respect). Strategies to promote collaboration that were supported by the participants include strong national leadership and interdisciplinary education.


CONCLUSIONS
Representatives of professional associations of care providers believe that multidisciplinary collaborative maternity care is needed to sustain the availability of care providers and to improve access and women's choices for maternity care in Canada. However, they perceive that strong leadership and education are needed to address significant structural and relational barriers to collaborative practice.
Peterson
Wendy E
WE
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa Ottawa ON.
Medves
Jennifer M
JM
School of Nursing, Queen's University Kingston ON.
Davies
Barbara L
BL
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa Ottawa ON.
Graham
Ian D
ID
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa Ottawa ON.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002170:Canada; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011247:Pregnancy; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care