Interdisciplinary teamwork in the community rehabilitation of older adults: an example of flexible working in primary care
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: This paper presents a section of the findings of a case study of a newly established community rehabilitation team (CRT) comprising physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses. The findings reported here address issues of interdisciplinary teamwork that arose during the project. All eight members of the team were interviewed as well as three ex-team members. The data were collected by semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic content analysis (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). The findings suggest that when recognized barriers to teamwork are eradicated, such as geographical separation and different employers, teams such as the CRT can achieve high levels of teamwork. A problem that took longer for the CRT to resolve, however, was that of flexible working across traditional professional and hierarchical role boundaries. The paper concludes that the difficulties that need to be overcome when a new team and new service are established concurrently, should not be underestimated.
Authors: Jane Griffiths, Lynn Austin, Karen Luker
Institution: University of Manchester
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2136190289