Persistent isolationist or collaborator? The nurse's role in interprofessional collaborative practice.
OBJECTIVE
The present study explores current understanding about interprofessional collaborative client-centred practice and nursing's role in this form of care delivery.


BACKGROUND
A profession-only focus on nursing practice has been challenged at professional, national governmental and World Health Organization levels stressing for more interprofessional patient-centred collaborative teamwork.


RESULTS
Moving to patient-centred collaborative practice is fraught with barriers. Enablers can result in building trust, power sharing and shared decision-making. Changing current workplace environments requires institutional commitments to support collaborative team development.


RESULTS
Nurses can become collaborative members of teams through: (1) re-socialize; (2) understanding and articulating nurses roles, knowledge and skills to others; (3) other health providers sharing the same to nurses; (4) identifying where shared roles, knowledge and skills exist; and (5) learning to work in collaborative teams. Nurses must address some fundamental issues about practice that negate collaboration and patient-centred care.


CONCLUSIONS
All professionals, including nurses, must move away from a service-oriented delivery to a patient-centred collaborative approach to care.


CONCLUSIONS
The values within health organizations need to be underpinned by collaborative interprofessional patient-centred practice. To accomplish this goal, administrators and managers must support assessment of employees and visiting physicians as to their conformance with agency established expectations for such practice.
Orchard
Carole A
CA
The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1, Canada. corchard@uwo.ca
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004506:Education, Nursing; D014943:Global Health; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009742:Nursing Theory; D009864:Ontario; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States