Healthcare practitioners’ perceptions of inter-professional collaborative practices in hospitals

Background

It is believed that positive interactions and exchanges of information within a healthcare team contribute to good quality care in any context. In Indonesia, there may be limitations on interaction and information exchange because of the hierarchical structure of organizations. Culture, hierarchy, and perceived rank affect how individuals behave and interact among professions in healthcare teams. This study aimed to identify the perceptions of each profession on the practice of inter-professional collaboration in their respective work units.

Method

The study was conducted among health care practitioners involved in antibiotic use in hospitals. Data were collected using the Collaborative-Practice Assessment Tool (CPAT) questionnaire of eight domains (53 questions). The correlation coefficient value for the 53 questions was >0.3, with a significance level of 5%. The reliability of the CPAT questionnaire was good, with Cronbach's alpha of 0.977.

Result

There were 261 respondents. The perception scores of each profession about inter-professional collaboration were 3.55–3.82. The domain that had the highest score was ‘the relationship between members'; and the lowest scores was ‘decision-making and conflict management’. A statistically significant difference was found in the perception towards the practice of inter-professional collaboration between pharmacists and other professions.

Conclusion

Perceptions of inter-professional collaboration of each profession in hospitals differ. Communication between professions in distributing tasks and roles when interacting is needed so that each profession can contribute optimally.