A qualitative study of nurse practitioner promotion of interprofessional care across institutional settings: Perspectives from different healthcare professionals

Objective Interprofessional care, an aim of institutional healthcare settings globally, promotes safe, cost-effective, quality care. How professionals act to enable interprofessional care has not been described. The nurse practitioner role, with its expertise in both medicine and nursing, is known to enhance collaboration and promote interprofessional care delivery. The objective of this study was to identify, from the healthcare professionals' perspective, nurse practitioner strategies used to enhance interprofessional care. Method A hermeneutic phenomenology design was employed. Healthcare professionals from acute care hospitals and associated long-term care residences (n = 6) in one Canadian province were invited to participate. Individual interviews were held with healthcare professionals (n = 52) who regularly work with a nurse practitioner. The participants were asked to share experiences that held significance or value in promoting interprofessional care. Results Four valued role attributes were identified; consistent role presence, time to focus on the patient, effective communication, and respectful centrality. Identified strategies extending from the attributes included knowledge sharing, respectful negotiation, identifying patient issues, being open and transparent, listening to opinions, bridging professions, and working as the hub of the group. Multiple types of interprofessional relationships were perceived, with the hierarchical type as the most common. Conclusions Nurse practitioners in acute care hospital and long-term care settings have valued attributes that can promote interprofessional care. Effective strategies to promote interprofessional care emerge from these role attributes. However, the interprofessional relationship type perceived could enhance or impede the contribution of the strategies to interprofessional care promotion.