Using a Common Vision of Partners in Care to Enhance Hospital Collaborative Relationships

Authors

  • Rosemary Arnold Brander Centre for Studies in Aging & Health, Providence Care, Kingston, ON Queens University, Kingston, ON
  • Margo Paterson School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
  • Yolande Chan Queens School of Business, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22230/jripe.2013v3n2a109

Keywords:

organizational change, interprofessional practice, critical ethnography, shared leadership, transcendent leadership

Abstract

Background: Collaborative care is a philosophy that guides the work of interdisciplinary teams, patients, and their families internationally. Hospital organizations must create and cultivate environments to meet customer, health policy, and legislative mandates for improved collaborative care. This study aimed to inform and aid cultural change related to collaborative care relationships with the goal of improving the quality of care.

Methods and Findings: A critical ethnography using mixed methodologies was conducted at a mid-sized non-acute hospital in Ontario, Canada. This article presents Phase 3 of a three-phase study that engaged senior leaders (SLs) in interviews about customer service and collaborative relationships. Phase 3 findings were triangulated with prior Phase 1 study results from healthcare providers (HCPs) and Phase 2 results from mid-level leaders (MLLs). The combined findings from all three phases formed a description of the organization’s culture (self-awareness, congruency, and health), explicated five organizational tensions, and generated questions and innovative change ideas to advance growth toward a shared vision of “partners in care.”

Conclusions: A shared conceptual model of partners in care emerged from the shared conversations held in the research focus groups and interviews over the three phases in the study. Organizational questions, tensions, and possibilities were revealed to advance the culture of collaboration with patients, families, and staff. Innovations were identified and implemented to enhance collaborative practice.

Author Biographies

Rosemary Arnold Brander, Centre for Studies in Aging & Health, Providence Care, Kingston, ON Queens University, Kingston, ON

Rosemary Brander is a Senior Researcher and Program Evaluator at the Centre for Studies in Aging and Health, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She holds a BSc (PT) from Queen's Universtiy, a MSc from The University of Western Ontario and is completing doctoral reserach at Queen's University. She has extensive experience as a healthcare clinician and administrator. Her research interests include collaborative care relationships, interdisciplinary practice and education and geriatrics; in hospital, long-term care and community healthcare environments.

Margo Paterson, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

Margo Paterson is a Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy and Director, Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice, Queen’s University. Her areas of teaching and research include clinical reasoning, communication skills, fieldwork education, qualitative research approaches and collaborative interprofessional practice.

Yolande Chan, Queens School of Business, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario

Yolande E. Chan is an E. Marie Shantz Professor of MIS at Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University. She holds a Ph.D. from the Richard Ivey School of Business, an M.Phil. in Management Studies from Oxford, and S.M. and S.B. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from M.I.T. She is a Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Chan conducts research on knowledge management, information systems strategy, and healthcare systems.  She has published her research in leading journals and sits on several journal editorial boards.

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Published

2013-08-14

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2013)

Section

Articles: Empirical Research

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