A Nurse’s Role in Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care
Written by:
University of Tulsa
• Jan 22, 2025
A Nurse’s Role in Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care
Interprofessional collaboration in health care is a practice in which personnel from a variety of disciplines work together with patients, families, and communities to provide care.
Nursing is the largest health care profession and includes 5.2 million registered nurses (RNs) in the United States, according to 2022 survey results in the Journal of Nursing Regulation. With their prominence in health care and their training that emphasizes key aspects of collaboration, nurses play a critical role in this practice that can benefit providers and patients alike.
In fact, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) includes interprofessional partnerships as one of the domains of providing nursing care. Nursing education programs, including those offering advanced degrees like the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) , generally emphasize this important component of high-quality health care.
What Is Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care?
Providing health care for any one patient typically requires a team of providers equipped to treat conditions of varying complexity. Interprofessional collaboration in health care refers to the team’s coordination of efforts as its members work together with the patient, their loved ones, and other stakeholders.
Interprofessional collaboration in health care emerged globally in the 1960s. Its goals are to provide care that emphasizes the patient’s needs and how the team can address them. This takes the focus away from the work of individual providers and ultimately improves health outcomes.
Who Is Involved in Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care?
Depending on the patient and their care needs, a wide variety of people may work in tandem as part of the interprofessional collaboration process. Among the health professionals who might be part of any individual patient’s care are:
- Physicians and nurses: Diagnosing and treating injuries and illness as well as observing and assessing patient concerns
- Pharmacists: Dispensing medication prescribed by physicians and advanced practice nurses
- Social workers: Helping patients and their loved ones understand and cope with medical conditions
- Physical therapists and occupational therapists: Assisting the patient with strengthening movement during recovery
Examples of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care
Interprofessional collaboration can play an important role in many health care scenarios, including clinic or hospital nursing involving acute care, chronic illness management, or preventive medicine. Some examples of interprofessional collaboration in health care include:
- Trauma care: An emergency room team of physicians, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and radiologists coordinates efforts to stabilize critically injured patients.
- Chronic disease management: Health professionals ranging from nurses and physicians to dieticians and physical therapists work to make sure their efforts complement each other in providing long-term care for people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes or heart disease.
- Hospital discharge: The various members of a care team work together to develop patient discharge plans that promote safety and healing, coordinate efforts to prescribe medications, schedule follow-up appointments, and provide home health care.
How Does Interprofessional Collaboration Benefit Nursing?
The benefits of interprofessional collaboration in nursing are many, with the practice yielding advantages both for the professionals providing the care and the patients receiving it. Following are some ways this collaboration can make an impact on nursing care:
- Positive patient outcomes: When providers, patients, and families work collaboratively, patients are more likely to receive care that effectively addresses each of their various treatment needs.
- Fewer medical errors: With all parties aware of diagnoses and treatments, health care staff may have a reduced risk of making medication and other treatment errors.
- Enhanced efficiency: By clearly communicating with other team members about tests performed and diagnoses determined, health care teams can help prevent unnecessary procedures and lower costs for medical facilities and patients.
- Greater staff satisfaction: When workflows are efficient and all team members’ knowledge and talents are appreciated, health care teams operate with greater confidence and better morale.
How Can Nurses Encourage Interprofessional Collaboration?
Nurses are well-suited to play a key role in interprofessional collaboration in health care.
Nurses often comprise a large component of a patient’s medical team. Additionally, their training generally includes a focus on skills and knowledge that are vital in interprofessional collaboration. Traits like respect, communication, and shared accountability as well as practices like team-based and person-centered care often are at the heart of their education.
They can put their significant presence in health care and their interprofessional collaboration-focused training to work in a variety of ways. Practices in which nurses can encourage interprofessional collaboration include:
1. Communicate Clearly
Nurses should communicate with other health care professionals, patients, and their families in a way that facilitates interprofessional collaboration. Some best practices in communication are:
- Providing information about the nurse’s role
- Using various forms of communication effectively
- Following policy, legal, and regulatory guidelines in sharing information
- Asking for input from other team members when making decisions
- Encouraging continuity of care by conveying patient information to inform future treatments
2. Facilitate Teamwork
In interprofessional health care collaboration, team dynamics are at the forefront of decision-making, planning, and treatment. Nurses can encourage this teamwork by:
- Assigning responsibilities to team members according to their roles in providing care
- Performing tasks according to their own background and scope of responsibilities
- Leading others in ensuring quality and safety
- Finding ways the team can improve their efforts to provide safe, high-quality care
3. Leverage Skills
Interprofessional collaboration requires recognizing and relying on each health care professional’s unique skill set. The following practices can help nurses to leverage team members’ abilities:
- Understanding the skills that nurses and other medical professionals can offer in patient care
- Working to incorporate the backgrounds and abilities of each team member in treatment plans
- Helping to ensure that all team members understand how their abilities fit into care plans
4. Show Respect
Mutual respect is a key element of successful teamwork. Nurses can play a role in encouraging respect among health care teams by:
- Demonstrating willingness to work with others to develop health care solutions for patients and communities
- Respecting the knowledge and abilities of other team members
- Displaying an awareness of one’s own biases and their potential impact on interactions
- Resolving conflicts through constructive communication
Improve Patient Care Through Collaborative Nursing
If you’re ready to become a nursing leader who guides interprofessional collaboration in health care, explore The University of Tulsa online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program.
Through our specialty tracks — including one that emphasizes leadership through communication, staffing, and performance measurement — you can develop the skills to facilitate interdisciplinary teamwork and improve patient care. Additionally, the program is fully online, providing the flexibility to develop these critical nursing and leadership skills while also managing other responsibilities.
Discover how The University of Tulsa online MSN program can help you toward a career in nursing leadership.
Recommended Readings
Is an MSN Worth It? Reasons to Pursue This Advanced Degree
10 MSN Specialties: How a Concentration Can Help You Focus Your Degree
What Is Health Promotion in Nursing Practice?
Sources:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Domain 6: Interprofessional Partnerships
Journal of Nursing Regulation, “The 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey”
QliqSOFT, “5 Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care”
TigerConnect, “Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care”
