gms | German Medical Science

Effects of interprofessional (IP) collaboration in health care have been increasingly investigated and successful IP collaboration in healthcare has potential to improve healthcare delivery and patient safety as well as to mitigate shortage of health workers [1]. To the best of our knowledge, mainly involved professions in IP research are medicine, nursing, and physiotherapy. However, there is space for more parties and health professions at the IP table. Therefore, this presentation aims to draw attention on concerned parties (patients/relatives, volunteers) and professions (sport scientists, biomedical scientists) involved in healthcare that are less frequently described in the IP literature. These parties and professions are not yet seen as equal members of the healthcare team although healthcare could benefit by integrating them into the IP team.

Patient centered care should be improved by collaboration between health professions and the patient and/or relatives, e.g. in defining goals and optimizing care. Patients and/or relatives should therefore be actively integrated in IP collaboration [2]. Voluntary work is an essential factor in the provision of health care services and thus should not be underestimated. The successful deployment of volunteers depends on several factors (e.g. benefits must exceed the efforts), however new potentials can raise in IP collaboration. Sport scientists work in health promotion, prevention and rehabilitation with responsibilities including prevention, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions and are therefore required to collaborate with various healthcare professions (e.g. physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, dieticians etc.) [3]. Biomedical scientists provide important laboratory findings for screening, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. Their mostly electronic or digital communication with other healthcare professions in sometimes life-threatening situations creates special challenges for IP collaboration.

The aim of this presentation is to sensitize and to get more insights into these concerned parties and health professions. Furthermore, possible examples of activity and intersections in IP collaboration and education settings will be shown and discussed. The role of patients/relatives, volunteers, sports and biomedical scientists should not be underestimated and therefore be acknowledged in IP collaboration and education settings.