Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Intentionally Interprofessional Collaboration.

Abstract

Although high-quality and holistic specialty palliative care is delivered by an interprofessional team, little guidance is available to optimize approaches to and sustainment of such teamwork. This article supports individuals to practice at the top of their education, clinical training, and scope of practice while maximizing the functionality of the palliative care team as a whole. We intentionally use the term interprofessional rather than interdisciplinary to clarify that we are focused on collaboration of team members who represent multiple professions or occupations that require specialized training and meet ethical standards (e.g., nursing, chaplaincy, social work, medicine, and pharmacy) rather than interactions among specific fields of study (e.g., cardiology, nephrology, and oncology). Synthesized from current data and best practices elicited from an interprofessional author team of palliative specialists, these ten tips aim to bolster collaboration, integration, and communication among palliative care team members, community providers, and referral sources. Topics are relevant for all teams across practice settings to promote and advance integrated teamwork, patient care, leadership, and research.