How to Build Effective Interprofessional Healthcare Teams

Abstract

Building effective interprofessional (IP) teams is an important process for healthcare systems across the world. In order to be truly effective, professional degree programs must teach our future health professionals to learn and collaborate on teams during their education. The goal of building effective IP healthcare teams will be achieved when each healthcare system effectively supports IP collaboration, the development of dynamic teams, and the appropriate use of resources. Advancing the effort to build effective IP healthcare teams will take an investment from key stakeholders such as educators, faculty and students, leaders and researchers in academic medicine, hospital and system administrators, policymakers, as well as patients and their families to create a culture of IP collaboration and provide the resources necessary to be sustainable and successful. This chapter will serve to show that effective IP healthcare teams can successfully improve patient outcomes, provide quality care, improve the healthcare team's experience, and reduce costs.