15 - The doctor and interprofessional relationships

Summary

Doctors work closely with nurses, pharmacists, social workers, physiotherapists and many other professionals in delivering health care. The quality of this care is enhanced in these working relationships if there is good communication, mutual respect and a proper understanding of the roles, responsibilities, capabilities, constraints and ethical codes of these various professions. Until the last 10 years, little formal attention was paid to the importance of such interprofessional relationships in the undergraduate medical curriculum or in postgraduate medical training, but this is now changing in Australia and elsewhere [1–5]. Prior to this change, the good working relationships that usually exist between health professionals appeared to owe more to human nature and shared goals than to formal training about each other's place in the health team. There are good reasons for promoting better understanding of each other's roles and approaches. A recent Swedish study demonstrated that an interprofessional learning segment in the undergraduate curriculum enhanced the confidence of young medical graduates. On the other hand, there is evidence that poor interprofessional relationships diminish the quality of patient care and add to the stress of working in the health team [7–8]. Through ignorance or a negative attitude some doctors may deny patients access to the specialist skills available from other health professionals. The importance of good communication between doctors and other health-care professionals is also addressed in Chapter 3.