Perspective Chapter: Opportunities and Barriers to Effective Multi-Disciplinary Teamwork in the Education and Training of Allied-Healthcare Students

Abstract

Collaboration between different allied-healthcare professionals through multi-disciplinary teamwork can help lead to integrated care and subsequently better outcomes for patients. Based on their experiences, the authors reflect upon both the advantages and the challenges to effective teamwork in a healthcare setting. They consider how higher education and training of allied-healthcare students could benefit from greater cross-professional collaboration, and they give their perspectives on the barriers and constraints to collaboration across disciplines. Within this chapter, the three authors who are all both university educators and allied-healthcare professionals, also deliberate on a specific example of head injury/concussion where there is potential opportunity to improve collaboration across their respective professions of Audiology, Physiotherapy and Optometry. They explore how cross-professional collaboration may help to provide improved patient-centred care.