Interprofessional Health Sciences Education: It’s Time to Overcome Barriers and Excuses

Excerpt

Physicians and medical educators have been slow to recognize the practice of medicine as a team sport. Over the past decade there have been dramatic changes in American hospitals, health care systems, and how health care is organized which have affected the way we deliver health care, the role of the health care professional, and the expectations of the patient. These changes have, in turn, impacted how the health care team functions and interacts. Interprofessional care has become the norm, with the physician being but one important player on the team. For too long the division between physicians and other health care providers has been hierarchical and rigid, with physicians feeling they were in charge and with other occupations seen as subordinate. We have done little to help our trainees understand the role and approaches to care offered by other team members, which includes social workers, psychologists, nurses, and physician assistants/nurse practitioners, as well as complementary and alternative care providers including chiropractors, acupuncturists, and others whom our patients visit for care. When we attempt to teach “systems-based practice,” too often the model has been to teach our trainees leadership skills with the explicit and implicit assumptions that they will always be captains [of the ship] rather than just one important member of the crew. …