Interdisciplinary collaboration in hospice team meetings

Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles, Debra Parker Oliver, George Demiris, Kelly Regehr

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hospice and palliative care teams provide interdisciplinary care to seriously-ill and terminally-ill patients and their families. Care teams are comprised of medical and non-medical disciplines and include volunteers and lay workers in healthcare. The authors explored the perception of collaboration among hospice team members and actual collaborative communication practices in team meetings. The data set consisted of videotaped team meetings, some of which included caregiver participation, and team member completion of a survey. Findings revealed that the team's reflection on process was most likely to occur in team meetings, however least likely to occur when caregivers were present. Although team members had a high perception of interdependence and flexibility of roles, this was less likely to be enacted in team meetings with and without the presence of caregivers. Caregiver participation in team meetings had a positive impact on collaborative communication and the potential benefit of caregiver inclusion in team meetings is explored.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)264-273
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Interprofessional Care
Volume24
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2010

Keywords

  • End-of-life care
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Mixed methodology

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