Accreditation as a lever for change in the development of the collaborative practitioner in the Australian health system

Objective: Patient expectations in the Australian healthcare system are for coordinated, collaborative practice. There is a need for education institutions, health services, accreditation authorities, and consumers to work together to achieve this goal. As part of a larger body of work, we sought to understand how these stakeholders contribute to the development of collaborative healthcare practice. Method: Nineteen focus groups were conducted in 2022 with 84 participants consisting of education providers (n = 62), consumers (n = 10), representatives from the Health Profession’s Education Standing Group (n = 8), and health service practitioners (n = 4). Framework analysis was initially undertaken to understand facilitators of, and barriers to, collaborative practice and learning. In a secondary analysis, the themes were re-organised according to the Bolman and Deal domains of organisational practice, to make explicit the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic factors deemed useful for re-imaging a process for learning about and incentivising collaborative practice. Results: There are multiple factors across healthcare settings that both facilitate and challenge the development of collaborative practice. Co-location of professions and participation in formal interprofessional processes such as team meetings and handovers facilitated learning collaborative practice, although traditional cultures which perpetuate siloed models of healthcare, power differentials between the professions, funding structures, and information sharing limited opportunities. The ‘value’ of collaborative practice was facilitated through both consistent curriculum messages throughout health professional courses and positive role modelling. Conclusions: Education institutions, health service practitioners, accreditation authorities, and consumers can work together to facilitate the development of collaborative practice through attention to policy and processes, curriculum activities, student participation, health service activities and practice, and resource allocation.