Advancing team work to trans-professional collaboration in rehabilitation homecare service: The local strategies for good practice in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objective: To show why and how social workers could play an essential role to facilitate a more holistic approach of interprofessional practice to rehabilitation service. Background: This paper reports on the conceptual findings and practice insights which are part of a qualitative case study for exploring the nature and common issues of interprofessional collaborative practice in the home care service settings in Hong Kong, with a focus on social worker’s roles. Methods: Conceptual research was conducted by (i) observing and analysing already present information and literature on the topic of interprofessional collaborative practice, and interprofessional education, (ii) developing local strategies for good practice through the interpretation of professionals’ experiences on existing teamwork or collaborative practice in parallel with the caregivers’ view. Selected key informants included the social worker, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist of a rehabilitation homecare service team and the caregivers of service users. Results: Our findings have been integrated into a list of interprofessional education learning outcomes and good practice strategies for social workers’ training. The 3 training categories for further discussion and examination are as follows: Team goal setting & expected flexibility, Interdisciplinary communication, and trans-professional collaboration including the integration of service users and caregivers. Conclusion: This paper is an overdue engagement of conceptual research in combining previous studies and associated work for developing education of interprofessional collaborative practice for social work students and professionals. It points out the pedagogical vision and direction of building good inter-professional practice in Hong Kong’s rehabilitation service.