Organizing for sustainable inter-organizational collaboration in health care processes

• Published in: Journal of interprofessional care 2020-03, Vol.34 (2), p.241-250
• Main Authors: Karlsson, Margareta, Garvare, Rickard, Zingmark, Karin, Nordström, Birgitta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive technology; Collaboration; Cooperative Behavior; Evidence-based practice; Evidence-Based Practice - organization & administration; Focus Groups; Fysioterapi; Group Processes; health and social care; Health care; Health Care Rationing - organization & administration; Humans; Integrated care; integration; interprofessional collaboration; Interprofessional Relations; Kvalitetsteknik och logistik; Needs Assessment - organization & administration; Nursing; Omvårdnad; partnership; Patient Care Team - organization & administration; Patient-centered care; Physiotherapy; Qualitative Research; Quality technology and logistics; Social Behavior; State Medicine - organization & administration; Sustainability; Sweden; Systems Integration
• ISSN: 1356-1820; 1469-9567; 1469-9567
• DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2019.1638760

Integrating health care services has proven to be important from both the patient and organizational perspectives. This study explores what defines a perceived well-functioning collaboration in the inter-organizational process of providing assistive devices in Sweden. Two focus groups comprising participants with profound knowledge of collaboration were performed, and data were analyzed in five steps, resulting in a data structure. Results yield the identification of three interacting processes: coordinating efforts to patient needs, ensuring evidence-based practice, and planning for efficient use of resources. These processes affected one another, and, therefore, would likely not have been effectively managed separately. The study contributes to theories of process management and organization by specifically focusing on how to analyze and improve sustainable collaboration in health care processes at both the management and professional levels. Theoretical frameworks that show different ways of organizing collaboration, as well as the concepts of action nets and boundary objects, can support both analysis and planning of collaboration. The intention would be to develop integration in inter-organizational health care processes, resulting in more person-centered care.