Patient Engagement As Team Sport: Building A Culture Of Interprofessional Collaboration

This is the third of a three-part series of issue briefs on patient engagement. This brief covers how healthcare organizations (HCOs) can develop and sustain interprofessional teams that plan, implement, monitor, evaluate and enhance HCOs’ education, patient engagement and empowerment initiatives. The first issue brief focused on how HCOs can advance a business and clinical case for patient engagement. The second issue brief zeroed in on how HCOs can implement patient engagement strategies by following a multi-step process.

Interprofessional collaborative teams have the power to re-charge healthcare organizations (HCOs) and the entire healthcare system. These teams embrace the contributions of executives, managers, clinicians, employees, community leaders, vendors, and, of course, patients and consumers. They improve satisfaction, loyalty and retention. And, they catalyze business and clinical performance, productivity and innovation.