What Is Interprofessional Practice? Nursing Explainer and FAQ

Interprofessional practice in healthcare requires clinicians from a variety of backgrounds to collaborate for the betterment of patients. By communicating and coordinating with other clinicians, you help each other grow. But why the push for interprofessional working, and how can you incorporate it into your practice?

Doctors and nurses are two of the oldest healthcare professions, and not long ago, their relationship was based on a strict hierarchy. Physicians were decision-makers, while nurses were support staff. As healthcare has progressed and more professional roles have evolved, a new, safer model emerged — one that acknowledges the expertise of all team members.

For nurses, interprofessional collaborative practice means having your voice valued as part of a team where everyone brings something important to the table. Safe, effective care requires contributions from everyone. Let’s explore what it means to use interprofessional collaboration in your practice.

What Are the Benefits of Interprofessional Practice?

For patients, collaboration translates to safer, higher-quality care. Effective communication can reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. It’s also associated with better clinical outcomes, reduced ED visits, and lower costs. When providers fail to collaborate interprofessionally, adverse medical events and errors can occur.

In healthcare teams, collaborative practice builds mutual respect and can even reduce burnout by lessening the load on nurses. Nurses can learn from their interdisciplinary teammates, growing skills and self-confidence in the process. And learning more about the work that teammates are doing can help nurses gain a deeper understanding of the complex care systems they work in.

In contrast, fragmented care can lead to duplicate services, unnecessary testing, and avoidable readmissions. For hospitals and health systems, interprofessional collaboration supports efficiency and cost savings. When nurses communicate with other providers, they can reduce waste and improve healthcare.

Because of these benefits, academic centers, research institutions, and hospitals are increasingly pushing for interprofessional communication in multidisciplinary care teams. Some nursing schools even use an interprofessional education approach, such as running code simulations with medical students and nursing students.

Interprofessional Care Skills for Nurses

Whether you work in acute care, hospice, rehabilitation, or somewhere else, understanding interpersonal skills can make you a better nursing professional. An interprofessional collaborative practice benefits everyone. What strengths can you work on to be a better member of the team?

• Reflection: Strong collaborative practice starts with self-awareness. Reflecting on your communication style, biases, and the limitations of your expertise helps you recognize areas for growth.
• Confidence: It takes interpersonal confidence to speak up to physicians and other team members. If you’re a newer nurse and are anxious about collaboration, observe how your preceptors or more experienced nurses approach their colleagues.
• Curiosity: By asking thoughtful questions about other disciplines’ approaches, you demonstrate a willingness to learn and collaborate. Curiosity builds trust and fosters new solutions to complex patient problems.
• Openness: Interprofessional care requires flexibility and respect for diverse viewpoints. Openness means being willing to adjust your own approach when a teammate offers a new idea.
• Friendliness: Having a welcoming, friendly attitude helps oil the machinery of interprofessional collaboration. Simple things like greeting coworkers, smiling, learning colleagues’ names, and offering help can build rapport and strengthen the team.

Interprofessional Practice Examples

Here are some examples of interprofessional collaboration across different care settings:

• Long-term care: An RN does his initial patient rounds with the nursing assistant, combining care tasks and helping residents get ready for breakfast.
• Palliative care: A palliative care NP works alongside chaplains, social workers, and RNs to address a patient’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs after cancer treatment.
• Med-surg: When planning a patient’s discharge to rehabilitation, a case manager consults with their nurse and nursing assistant regarding current functional needs.
• Primary care: A family NP (FNP) refers a patient to a dietitian and a diabetes educator when the patient’s A1C levels reveal they are prediabetic.

Interprofessional Cooperation FAQ

What is the difference between interprofessional and interdisciplinary practice?

Interprofessional collaboration happens between different healthcare professionals, while interdisciplinary collaboration may include people outside of healthcare as well. For example, an informatics nurse may use interdisciplinary practice to work with IT professionals, business leaders, and device representatives to bring a new piece of technology to a nursing unit.

What are the potential barriers to interprofessional collaboration?

Despite the benefits, there are potential pitfalls that can make collaborating across teams difficult:

• Team members may not feel that it is important
• Lack of understanding of other professionals’ skills
• Reluctance to change or communicate with others
• Lack of emphasis on interprofessional communication in the academic curriculum

Where can I find more information about interprofessional communication?

If you want to learn more about forming and nurturing interprofessional teams, check out these resources:

• The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies: This is a framework for how clinicians can function as effective teams. The competencies include four domains — values and ethics, roles and responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teamwork.
• The Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) Framework: This framework focuses on role clarification, patient-centered care, conflict resolution, and team functioning.
• TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety): Developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), this system provides practical communication and teamwork strategies to reduce errors and improve safety.

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