Making progress on role confusion in interdisciplinary teams.

Modern day health care consists of a plethora of different professions. Some old, some new, some very old!

Interdisciplinary healthcare teams have commonly consisting of physicians, nurses, specialists, therapists, and assistants all essential for providing high-quality, coordinated patient care. However, with this collaborative approach inevitably comes the potential for role confusion, unclear boundaries, and team friction.

Staff shortages in all sectors have made way for the development of alternative levels of care givers. From Advanced practice roles, to Physicians associates, to Nursing associates and Specialist practitioners in every department from anaesthetics to dietetics to pharmacy, to therapies. With those in existing posts taking on enhanced roles. To name but a few.

Many factors can lead to uncertainty around individual team members' responsibilities, particularly with the newer roles. Without addressing these issues, negative consequences can emerge that compromise the care and satisfaction of both staff and patients.

There are several key reasons why role confusion manifests in interdisciplinary teams. Inadequate communication and lack of guidelines around duties means assumptions are made instead of clarifications. We’ve all been guilty of this at some point!  (me included!). Wanting to demonstrate our abilities, our opinions, our contributions.

Team hierarchies, cultural barriers, and inconsistent leadership also sow misunderstandings. Like many industries, there are departmental reshuffles in healthcare, changes of services, divisions and chief executives! Along with mergers between trusts, organisations and provisions of care.

We also know that the increasingly complex nature of patients demands flexibility; however, when and who should be doing what and when can become unclear.

It’s quite a mixed soup!

Unaddressed role confusion leads to tension between team members struggling to navigate duties, respect boundaries, and establish authority. It’s so common to see staff feel undervalued and patients get frustrated by fragmented care.

How many times have you seen a duplication of effort alongside important tasks falling by the wayside, and consequently raising safety issues?.

In come the cheer leaders of ambiguity and miscommunication...

From an organizational standpoint, we can see that poor collaboration and lack of cohesiveness leads to lower quality of care delivered, reduced patient outcomes and staff retention issues.

So, what would you like to happen to improve this?

I could provide some role clarification tips, but what’s more important is that you come up with the answers, I am not going to tell you what to do to improve things.

All I ask is that you think and listen as a starting point.

Think professionally, think outcome, think patient. Talk to each other without the competition of what you bring to the table. Set some ground rules and listen to opinion. Create opportunities how to learn and then to teach. Embrace your differences, whether professional, generational or perspective.

Allow for compromise, you might need to change your outcome to find middle ground.

Above all, respect each other and allow your answers to unfold.

If this article resonates with you I’d love to hear from you.