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Teamwork on the rocks: Rethinking interprofessional practice as networking

Optimising interprofessional practice has been identified as one of the key methods for improving health outcomes across the globe (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Predominantly, in the United States, better interprofessional practice has been conceptualised as creating high-functioning teams that communicate and collaborate efficiently and effectively to meet the Triple Aim of improved health outcomes, lower cost, and enhanced patient experience (Earnest & Brandt, 2014). Yet, despite nearly two decades of work in the arenas of interprofessional practice and education, progress towards defining impactful, reproducible interventions that improve teamwork and lead to better health outcomes has been slow (Institute of Medicine, 2015; Reeves et al., 2016; Zwarenstein, Goldman, & Reeves, 2009). Recently, we identified some reasons why optimising interprofessional practice might be so challenging. Using data from the electronic health record (EHR), we identified the healthcare professionals involved in the care of a hundred patients with colorectal cancer. Based on data of when and how healthcare professionals access, enter, and review information related to each patient from the date of diagnosis in our university’s cancer registry through 60 days after this date, we created networks of electronic collaboration among the healthcare professionals caring for each patient. The size and complexity of these networks provided some startling insights into the barriers to interprofessional practice which we briefly discuss in this editorial.