Interprofessional collaboration during an emergency ward’s rounds
International Journal of Emergency Services
ISSN: 2047-0894
Article publication date: 12 October 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore interprofessional collaboration during ward rounds on a Finnish emergency and infection ward from the viewpoint of three central professional groups: physicians, nurses and secretaries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilise an ethnographically informed approach, with observations and interviews as the data collection devices. The data comprise ten interviews with staff members and ten hours of observations. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis.
Findings
The ward rounds were found to be rather physician- and medicine-centred, and mostly not interprofessional. Nurses and secretaries in particular expressed dissatisfaction with many of the current ward rounds work practices. Ward rounds are an essential part of collaboration in implementing the emergency-natured operational aim of the ward, yet we found that the ward rounds are complicated by diverging professional views and expectations, variable work practices and interactional inequality.
Originality/value
This study makes a contribution to the research of collaboration in emergency care and ward rounds, both of which are little-studied fields. Further, context-specific studies of collaboration have been called for in order to eventually create a model of shared expertise. The findings of this study can be utilised in studying and developing emergency care contexts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (Project No. 109295).
Citation
Collin, K., Herranen, S., Valleala, U.M. and Paloniemi, S. (2015), "Interprofessional collaboration during an emergency ward’s rounds", International Journal of Emergency Services, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 212-226. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJES-02-2015-0007
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited