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Wright J1
1Manchester Metropolitan University, Health Professions, Manchester, United Kingdom
Background: There is an overemphasis on the processes and mechanisms of teamwork in the discourse surrounding interprofessional collaboration. This has been influenced predominantly by the perceptions of professionals, with limited consideration of the perspectives of patients and their families.
Purpose: To enable effective provision of care, physiotherapists should be aware of the multiple realities of caring and the influence these have on the lived experiences of their patients and families. The goal of effective interprofessional working is not to solely benefit the professionals and service providers; it also needs to ensure delivery of patient-centred care.
This presentation outlines a naturalistic approach to exploratory doctoral research carried out with informal carers in the North of England, to capture their perceptions of effective interprofessional collaboration through their lived experiences. It will primarily focus on the implications for future physiotherapy practice.
Methods: Two stories were developed by the researcher with two carers from the latter's experiences. These stories were subsequently used in interviews with eleven other carers. Thematic analysis was primarily used to analyse the data. A combination of methods outlined in Bold (2012), Braun and Clarke (2006) and Gubrium (1993) enabled the analysis to be inductive and data driven and captured the stories of the carers' experiences, providing insight into the realities of caring and the interactions with professionals and services. The doctoral research obtained ethics approval from the author's institution and informed consent was gained from all participants.
Results: Three subjective meanings of caring emerged from the analysis: It's all a battle; That's how it is; and I know how it should be. Three main themes for effective interprofessional working were identified, namely individual attributes; shared philosophy of care; and information communication. The findings suggest a synergistic relationship exists between the three themes. The findings provide insight into the realities of the carers' experiences for physiotherapists and other professionals. They demonstrate how varying professional behaviour and attitudes affects those experiences.
Conclusion(s): This study supports the need for a cultural shift away from the notion of team to an increased focus on working with others to deliver effective care. Physiotherapists and other professionals need to look beyond teamwork and to focus more on the factors that facilitate effective outcomes for the patient and their families. The findings support the need for physiotherapists to reflect on their own attitudes, beliefs and routine practices and to be prepared to challenge those of other professionals.
Implications: As more integrated services are developed within and across health and social care settings, increasingly physiotherapists and other health and social care professionals are not working within one team. This research has implications for future interprofessional working, new service developments and the pre and post qualification education of physiotherapists and other professionals.
References:
Bold, C. (2012) Using Narrative in Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd. Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research, 1, 3, 385-405. Gubrium, J.F. (1993) Horizons of meaning for nursing home residents. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Keywords: interprofessional, perceptions, carers
Funding acknowledgements: No external funding. Researcher obtained doctoral study funding from her own institution, Manchester metropolitan University.
Purpose: To enable effective provision of care, physiotherapists should be aware of the multiple realities of caring and the influence these have on the lived experiences of their patients and families. The goal of effective interprofessional working is not to solely benefit the professionals and service providers; it also needs to ensure delivery of patient-centred care.
This presentation outlines a naturalistic approach to exploratory doctoral research carried out with informal carers in the North of England, to capture their perceptions of effective interprofessional collaboration through their lived experiences. It will primarily focus on the implications for future physiotherapy practice.
Methods: Two stories were developed by the researcher with two carers from the latter's experiences. These stories were subsequently used in interviews with eleven other carers. Thematic analysis was primarily used to analyse the data. A combination of methods outlined in Bold (2012), Braun and Clarke (2006) and Gubrium (1993) enabled the analysis to be inductive and data driven and captured the stories of the carers' experiences, providing insight into the realities of caring and the interactions with professionals and services. The doctoral research obtained ethics approval from the author's institution and informed consent was gained from all participants.
Results: Three subjective meanings of caring emerged from the analysis: It's all a battle; That's how it is; and I know how it should be. Three main themes for effective interprofessional working were identified, namely individual attributes; shared philosophy of care; and information communication. The findings suggest a synergistic relationship exists between the three themes. The findings provide insight into the realities of the carers' experiences for physiotherapists and other professionals. They demonstrate how varying professional behaviour and attitudes affects those experiences.
Conclusion(s): This study supports the need for a cultural shift away from the notion of team to an increased focus on working with others to deliver effective care. Physiotherapists and other professionals need to look beyond teamwork and to focus more on the factors that facilitate effective outcomes for the patient and their families. The findings support the need for physiotherapists to reflect on their own attitudes, beliefs and routine practices and to be prepared to challenge those of other professionals.
Implications: As more integrated services are developed within and across health and social care settings, increasingly physiotherapists and other health and social care professionals are not working within one team. This research has implications for future interprofessional working, new service developments and the pre and post qualification education of physiotherapists and other professionals.
References:
Bold, C. (2012) Using Narrative in Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd. Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research, 1, 3, 385-405. Gubrium, J.F. (1993) Horizons of meaning for nursing home residents. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Keywords: interprofessional, perceptions, carers
Funding acknowledgements: No external funding. Researcher obtained doctoral study funding from her own institution, Manchester metropolitan University.
Topic: Professional issues
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University
Ethics committee: Faculty HPSC Academic Ethics Committee
Ethics number: 0910 (March 2009)
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
