Caring moments within an interprofessional healthcare team : Children and adolescent perspectives

Patients are now recognized as key partners to improve healthcare outcomes. Some organisations such as the WHO or the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) encourage considering patients as partners in the interprofessional healthcare team. However, limited knowledge exists on patients’ perspective of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and of their role in the collaborative process, particularly in pediatric settings. The experiences and perspectives of patients regarding IPC have to be considered in order to fully understand the concept of IPC and integrate it into practice. This qualitative study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the perspective of children of IPC, how it affects their experiences of care and how they perceive their own role within the interprofessional team. Semi-structured interviews were used in the pediatric service of a Swiss university hospital, with ten children and adolescents aged between 11-17 years. The participants described the interactions they observed between nurses and physicians and provided insights into how they perceived the quality of that relationship. A respectful relationship between nurses and physicians may have improved the experience of a caring environment. The participants did not
perceive their role to be pivotal into the interprofessional relationship. The findings of this study indicate that the interactions between healthcare professionals have an influence on the perspectives and experiences of the participants of their hospitalisation and of IPC. However, integrating children and adolescents into collaborative process will need a change of paradigm and beliefs regarding IPC.
Keywords Perceptions, perspectives, relationship, interaction, pediatric, interprofessional collaboration