Inter-professional and Collaborative Working Strategies that may be used to overcome boundaries between professions
At first I thought inter-professional working was all about people from different professions coming together and doing a certain task. I came to learn that one has to form an understanding of the other participants in the team, learn how to work and communicate with them, as well as working together as one. The individuals make their own decisions and have goals that are agreed upon within the group. Commitment is necessary at all times and one must put aside his/her feelings, emotions as well beliefs to enable them to work effectively and efficiently. Each participant has a collective responsibility for group task. “Inter-professional working is not about fudging the boundaries between the professions and trying to create a generic care worker. It is instead about developing professionals who are confident in their own core skills and expertise, who are fully aware and confident in the skills and expertise of fellow health and care professionals, and who conduct their own practice in a non-hierarchical and collegiate way with other members of the working team, so as to continuously improve the health of their communities and to meet the real care needs of individual patients and clients” (McGrath 1991).
The most evident challenge in the group work was language difference. Given the varying and diverse disciplinaries, a member would use a word that would be perceived to be a jargon by the others and it would prove difficult to communicate. It proved hard at first to communicate since we did not know each other. On the other hand an individual’s beliefs, attitudes and attributes varied and sometimes led to conflicts among some members. Through encouraging one another and we were able to overcome all these obstacles and we were able to work as one.
Thanks to the group, I got to learn a lot of things that have widened my knowledge and understanding of the various fields around. With this I will be able to communicate well with those I interact with in my day to day activities. Also I would be able to act as a team player in the achievement of the goals at the workplace. This will be enhanced by my awareness of other professions and I will be able to work with people from different departments and organisations. I got to learn that respect for others is important. No profession can be said to be inferior to the other. Therefore, I would opt to first listen before giving my opinion and always take every point to be of importance. As a group we are able to achieve more, and being from different disciplinaries, we share knowledge and enhance our creativity. We also motivate each other towards set goals and work is made easier. According to Hammick el al (2009), being interpersonal is being open to learning with other people you work with about that work and to improve (in every sense) the way you work.
The experience was good and if I were to take part in another group work, I would be more aware then leading to better results.
References
McGrath M., (1991), “Multidisciplinary Teamwork”. Aldershot, Avebury
Hammick M., Freeth D.S., Goodsman D., Copperman J, (2009), “Being Inter-professional”, Polity press
Barr, H. (2005) “Interprofessional Education, Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow”, (updated version), Higher Education Academy
Barr H., Koppel I., Reeves S., Hammick, M. & Freeth, D., (2005) “Effective Inter-professional Education: Argument, Assumption & Evidence” Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
