Enhancing interdisciplinary professionalism: a step-wise approach to identify and address barriers to civility and collaboration

Conflict between different clinical disciplines can drive unprofessional behavior, leading to negative impacts on the working environment and patient outcomes. Participants will learn how to apply a step-wise strategy -- including surveys, facilitated discussions, and collaborative problem-solving -- to enhance interdisciplinary professionalism and civility.

Session Agenda:

5 min:

Introduction: Following introductions, speakers will discuss the negative impacts of unprofessional behavior between disciplines, and will describe the IPEC (Interprofessional Education Collaborative) framework for interdisciplinary collaboration.

15 min: Presentation of step-wise strategy: Speakers will present a real-world example of a structured intervention designed to promote civility across two clinical disciplines. Survey findings, discussion points, and strategies for collaborative problem-solving will be shared.

35 min: Small group discussions: Speakers will present a hypothetical scenario involving incivility between clinical disciplines. Using a provided handout, and guided by the IPEC framework, participants will discuss how to implement a step-wise approach to promote collaborative problem-solving between disciplines. Participants will consider key partners and resources necessary to implement a similar strategy at one’s home institution. Groups will report lessons learned to the larger group.

5 min: Wrap-up: Speakers will share take-home points and answer questions.