Sustaining interprofessional collaboration

Abstract

There has been much written about new interprofessional collaborations, rather less about established or terminated collaborations. This paper briefly rehearses well known factors that encourage and discourage interprofessional collaboration, before considering factors that may help sustain collaborations or signal that termination of the collaboration is appropriate. The Clinical Skills Initiative at St Bartholomew's in London, UK is offered as a case study of a sustained interprofessional collaboration. It will be argued that a combination of continued need to collaborate and empowerment to do so, creates favourable conditions for sustained collaboration. The composition of the interprofessional team that comprises the collaboration is also seen as key.