Interprofessional Relationships
Interprofessional relationships are an undervalued type of relationship. First of all, what is an interprofessional relationship? According to Green & Johnson, “Interprofessional collaboration occurs when 2 or more professions work together to achieve common goals and is often used as a means for solving a variety of problems and complex issues.” (Green & Johnson, 2015). Interprofessional relationships are extremely important within the medical field since so many health issues have overlapping causes and/or solutions. For example, Dentists and Dental Hygienists will often refer patients to see their primary care physicians due to concerns that may be seen in the mouth. Many health issues manifest in the oral cavity in ways that dentists and dental hygienists are trained to look for during oral cancer screenings. If the dentist or dental hygienist suspects that there is a more serious underlying health condition occurring, they will often refer to specific specialists for an evaluation appointment. Having a good relationship with specialists in different medical fields is beneficial in order to provide the best patient care possible.
Interprofessional collaborations have not always been recognized as important relationships to maintain. In 1972, there was a national conversation when the Institute of Medicine discussed the benefits of group-centered care and interprofessional education. Then in 2009, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed. And finally, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed which emphasized the importance of interprofessional practices within primary care units. This also encouraged medical schools to have their students experience clinical rotations at various professional levels and environments (Johnson & Johnson, 2023).
Interprofessional collaboration gives participants the opportunity to accomplish more together than any one individual could accomplish by themselves. As a professional community, larger groups of people are able to be reached and can be served more effectively. These relationships serve to help individuals, organizations, and larger communities as a whole. According to Green & Johnson in 2015, interprofessional relationships can:
1. Grow opportunities to learn and go beyond traditional ways of thinking.
2. Provide access to people that would not normally be reached in order to serve a larger body of people.
3. Increases potential to develop lifelong relationships and bonds that may be beneficial in the future.
4. Gain wisdom from others.
5. Provide access to new resources and the potential to develop new skills.
6. Encourage increased productivity through doing more work in less time.
7. Shares recognition and accolades.
8. Helps to associate individuals with other individuals who are successful.
9. Shares financial burdens with others.
10. Improves access to money since some funding agencies will only support collaborative projects.
11. Improved cross fertilization across different disciplines.
12. It helps create a pool of knowledge for overcoming large and complex problems in the future (Green & Johnson, 2015).
In addition to improved patient care, developing interprofessional relationships is critical for research advancements. Many studies rely on the expertise of others in order to create an accurate representation of information that is calculated into the research project. Regardless of what type of professions are involved, it is important that individuals create an environment of mutual respect for each other. This allows participants to work in a more cooperative atmosphere and achieve more in a shorter amount of time. Interprofessional relationships rely upon the ready cooperation and integration of people with differing skills—including medical and non-medical skills (Green & Johnson, 2015).
As a registered dental hygienist, I’ve experienced first-hand the importance of collaborating with other professionals. One specific example that comes to mind is of a patient that I was seeing who ended up having multiple health issues going on. He has not seen his primary care physician in years and came to the dentist for his regular dental cleaning and exam. After completing an oral cancer screening on this patient, I recognized issues that commonly occur with diabetes. I encouraged that patient to see his PCP just in case. A week later, my office received a call from that same patient thanking us for referring him to his doctor since he ended up having diabetes and several other health issues. I also referred another patient to see their dermatologist after noticing several lesions on their face. That patient ended up having early stages of melanoma and was able to stop the cancer from spreading. These are just a couple of examples which demonstrate the importance of developing clinical interprofessional relationships.
References
Green, B. N., & Johnson, C. D. (2015, March). Interprofessional collaboration in research, education, and clinical practice: Working together for a better future. The Journal of chiropractic education. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4360764/#:~:text=Interprofessional%20collaboration%20occurs%20when%202,of%20problems%20and%20complex%20issues.
Johnson & Johnson. (2023, September 12). The importance of interprofessional collaboration in Healthcare. Discover Nursing. https://nursing.jnj.com/getting-real-nursing-today/the-importance-of-interprofessional-collaboration-in-healthcare#:~:text=Interprofessional%20collaboration%20can%20improve%20patient,rates%2C%20and%20optimizing%20medication%20dosages.
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