title: The benefits of respectful interactions: fluid alliancing and inter-occupational information sharing in primary care.
abstract: Though inter-occupational interactions in health care have been the focus of increasing attention, we still know little about how such interactions shape information sharing in clinical settings. This is particularly true in primary care where research on teams and collaboration has been based on individual perceptions of work (using surveys and interviews) rather than observing the interactions that directly mediate the inter-occupational flow of information. To explore how interactions shape information sharing, we conducted a secondary analysis of ethnographic data from 27 primary care practices. Ease of information sharing among nurses and doctors is linked to the degree to which practices feature respectful interactions, with practices in the sample falling into one of three categories (those with low, uneven, and high degrees of respectful interactions). Those practices with the highest degree of respectful interactions demonstrate what we describe as fluid-alliancing: flexible interactions between individuals from different occupational groups in which bidirectional information sharing occurs for the benefit of patients and the efficacy of the practice community. We conclude by arguing that this process unlocks the strengths of all practice members, and that leadership should encourage respectful interactions to augment organisational efficacy and the ability of individual practice members to provide quality patient care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Staten Island & CUNY Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: DiCicco-Bloom
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Hamilton College, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: DiCicco-Bloom
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: ethnography; information sharing; nurses and physicians; primary care; respectful interactions