Cultures, Identities, and Teams, Oh My!

Professional Differences in Interprofessional Working. Baxter SK, Brumfitt SM. J Interprof Care. 2008; 22(3): 239-251. 

Available online from the Baystate Health Sciences Library or from PubMed at your institution.

Quick game.. What do you think of when I say "Culture"?!

Now, close your eyes and visualize it. 

If I close my eyes, I will have to stop reading your blog. 

Don't do that. Just close your eyes, make note of what image pops into your head, and then continue reading. 

If you are one of our friends from microbiology, you may have imagined a Petri dish. Otherwise, you may have visualized a group of people. Were those people in scrubs? 

Baxter and Brumfitt, in this article, note that "culture" can refer to physicians and nurses and PCTs and OTs and PTs and PAs, etc.. 

Crediting the word "tribalism" to Beattie (1995), Baxter and Brumfitt write "Professional differences [between health care professions] have been described as "tribalism," developed as a result of professions evolving separately, with deeply rooted boundaries between them."

So, all of us in healthcare developed - through our educational experiences and our association with our own professional groups - a professional identity. 

But, if we want to work as effective teams for our patients, we have to include in that professional identity, a secure understanding of what we bring to the team and an appreciation for the skills brought by our colleagues. 

This article takes us through a multiple-case study, exploring "the nature of joint working practice" among health care providers. In other words, they looked at how different professions were able to work together. 

And? 

And, they found a lot to suggest that some of us closely see our "team" as being a multi-professional group that cares for a patient and others who see their "team" as the colleagues in their same profession. 

Ultimately, it's complex. Way too complex for a blog post. 

Well, you tried. 

But not too complex that we shouldn't all read this article to get a sense of how to better create effective interprofessional care teams. We need to start defining our "team" the same way that our patients do - as an interprofessional group of providers, each responsible for a different and essential element of their care. 

Bottom Line:
Interprofessional practice requires the acknowledgement of our skills in concert with the skills of other practitioners. Read this article and reflect on how you can contribute to your TEAM.