An interprofessional or interdisciplinary problem?

Discussion
Distinctions for developing an analytical approach to interdisciplinarity based on the case of a long-term care hospital
By Yves Couturier
English

This communication distinguishes interdisciplinary problems from other related difficulties, such as those related to work organization. The conceptual proximity between discipline and profession can cause difficulties experienced in the interprofessional space to mistakenly reflect badly on interdisciplinarity. For the analyst, this association blurs his understanding and, in effect, inhibits the development of adequate solutions to the problem encountered. This article, based on an ethnographic study of interdisciplinary relations in a small long-term care hospital, aims to alleviate the ambiguity surrounding this issue. In order to do so, it begins by recalling the parameters of the theoretical field of interdisciplinarity. The difficulties observed in the long-term care hospital setting, as they were conceived in the light of interdisciplinarity theory, are then described. This article highlights, in particular, how the nursing staff contributes to the maintenance of a philosophy of care, which encourages the long-term deployment of interdisciplinarity.

Key words

  • interdisciplinarity
  • interprofessionality
  • philosophy of care
  • analysis of professional practice
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