Role Theory and Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care

Role Theory and Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care

Bachchu Kailash Kaini*

(PhD Student, University of Greenwich, MBA, MHA, LLB, BEd, BCom, Cert. in Clinical Audit)

*Clinical Governance Manager, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, London

Different health care professionals are assigned different roles by virtue of their expertise, skills, knowledge, professional qualification and need of service users in the health service delivery process. Therefore, role theory is applicable to health care sector. Baxter (2007) argues that role theory concerns people and the behaviours that are characteristics of health care professionals in different context. Role development is related to the study of work activity and it emphasises job characteristics and seeks to justify the nature of work and thereby the nature of workers. It also has its modern origins in scientific management and has an impact through the studies of roles and function of different professions in health care (Rawson, 1994; pp.48).

Miller et al (2001) assert that development of role understanding is a very important feature of interprofessional care, teamwork and collaborative practice. It is necessary to communicate team members’ roles and responsibilities so that their shared goals are understood and achieved. It is vital that health care professionals understand what other members are doing and why they do it so that it enables them to determine how roles within an interprofessional care context fit together to provide the best care for service users. Delva et al (2008) suggest that orientation to new members provides an opportunity for detailing the different roles and responsibilities of each team members.

Changes in health care are linked to post modernity (Biggs, 1997) as professional boundaries between health care professionals become more permeable (Baxter, 2007; pp.67).  Biggs argues that there has to be a balance between expertise and responsibilities. He further highlights that there is a tendency to ignore structure and differences in health sector.

Interprofessional team collaboration between all health care professionals in the clinical practices and day to day management of expanded roles are very vital.  A flexible standardised approach and the recognition of the needs for negotiation between the interprofessional care team and professional groups about parameters of practice and teamwork enhance the benefit to service users. The Nepalese hospitals’ organisational policies have to reflect the emphasis upon role development and new ways of working. The modernisation agenda also focuses on a new division of labour with the introduction of new roles throughout the clinical professionals and new classes of multi skilled health care professionals. Hence, clinical work are now organised to enable health care professionals to exercise the full range of their skills, knowledge and expertise for the advantage of the service users.

Over the last two decades expansion of nursing and allied health profession (AHPs) roles have developed in response to a complex mixture of pressures from a professional, social and political perspective (Humphries and Masterton 2000). Expansion and development of health care professional roles and their support staff are therefore considered an important part of service development within the hospitals. As with any change it is essential that such role developments are carefully planned, managed, supported and evaluated (Rawson, 1994). 

Belbin (2012) states that team roles measure behaviour, not personality and defines team role as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. His work on team roles and role theory have been widely used and applied in the concept of roles to the workplace and management teams. His team roles are used to identify people's behavioural strengths and weaknesses in the workplace (Beblin, 2012). This information can be used to build productive working relationships, select and develop high-performing teams, raise self-awareness and personal effectiveness, build mutual trust and understanding and aid recruitment processes. Beblin describes different nine team roles, which he called plant, resource investigators, monitor evaluators, co-ordinators, implementers, specialist,  completer finishers, teamworker and shapers.

Roles are actively interpreted and negotiated between health care professionals rather than prescribed. In interprofessional care and collaborative practice, health care professionals as role partners extents beyond expert and service user so that different health care professionals become mutual partners for role sharing in a common role set (Rawson, 1994, pp.49).