Interprofessionellt samarbete - En kvantitativ studie om samvariationen med effekterna av uppgiftsväxling

Abstract

Within the Swedish healthcare system, we can today observe stressful situations characterized by lack of paramedics, a situation that in the future will be untenable. In order to maximize efficient usage of resources, some organizations have begun working with task shifting. The purpose of this study is to describe how task shifting covaries with interprofessional collaboration within the healthcare sector. Previous research shows that a well-functioning collaboration with the organization is of great value for the quality of the care given to the patient. The main purpose of task shifting is to maximize and streamline the skills available within an organization in order to ensure the quality of patient care. This is done by mapping and restructuring tasks. A clear deviation of professions can be found in this sector and research shows that implementing task shifting without assuring proper and clear communication, can create ambiguity in areas of responsibility. This in turn may affect collaboration. Earlier studies also show that task shifting can put positions of power out of play, as result of an increased ambiguity in hierarchical structures. It can also lead to rivalry and competition between professions. These effects may also in fact damage the interprofessional collaboration. This paper is based on a quantitative survey study; a survey was sent to 491 respondents within the healthcare sector. The response rate was 65.78 %. The data was analyzed through Welch's independent t-test, as well as multiple regression analysis The study showed that there was no difference in experienced interprofessional collaboration between the group that had been task shifting as compared to the group that hadn´t. There was a significant difference regarding level of experienced hierarchy between the groups, where the non-task shifted group experienced a higher degree of hierarchy. The study also showed that possible effects of task shifting predict interprofessional collaboration. In the task-shifted group, clear hierarchy and clear responsibilities predicted interprofessional collaboration. In the non-task shifting group, clear areas of responsibility and professions in competition predict interprofessional collaboration. Collaboration therefore appears to be partly linked to the possible effects of task shifting, but the effects do not seem to be independent to task shifting. Our results indicate that the connection between task shifting and collaboration is unclear, or may in fact not exist.