Exploring interprofessional collaboration in the intensive care unit

Background: Critical care units require an interprofessional management approach to optimise patients' health. Clinical education and training delivered in remote healthcare settings are vital for fostering interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among health science students for future team functioning.

Objectives: Our study explored the IPC among clinicians in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting at two South African decentralised clinical training facilities to understand the existing collaborative practices that students are exposed to during their clinical training.

Method: A qualitative study design, utilising semi-structured interviews, was used to gather information on the experiences of 40 purposively selected participants working in the ICU settings at the two clinical sites. Data collected from the interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

Results: Four major themes were identified from the data, namely, scope-of-practice dispute, teamwork disruption, organisational obstacles and future aspirations.

Conclusion: Participants believed that a lack of professional regard by medical doctors and an inadequate understanding of the role of other professionals impeded appropriate referral practice and collaborative team functioning. Under-exposure to interprofessional education (IPE) at an undergraduate level and the pervasive medical hierarchy were perceived as a primary attributable cause of this phenomenon. Moreover, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and persistent staff shortages purportedly obstructed potential opportunities to collaborate in multidisciplinary meetings. Participants believed that improving undergraduate IPE and compulsory multidisciplinary meetings to promote communication would improve team functioning in these clinical settings.

Clinical implications: Undergraduate IPE is a feasible approach to improve collaborative care in ICUs to achieve better patient outcomes.