Medical Leadership and Effective Interprofessional Health Care Teams: A Competency-based Approach

In the current dynamic era, health care leaders are promoting interprofessional teams as one method to ensure timely access to the highest quality care. However, in a care paradigm that involves multiple professionals with specialized expertise, what is the role of medical leadership? How are contemporary professions to navigate these potential conflicts of expertise and authority in order to achieve optimal patient care? This paper outlines a competency-based approach to the solution. Effective interprofessional health care teams require members to be prepared for a team approach, including clear roles and an understanding of team dynamics. The physician role in such a team must include an understanding of shared decision making and respect for diversity, while applying their medical expertise. All team members must possess both appropriate clinical expertise and teamwork abilities. In Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons has developed the CanMEDS framework of competencies to ensure just such a multidimensional approach to competence. The CanMEDS Collaborator Role is an explicit domain designed for team abilities. Ultimately, such a competency-based approach can enable emerging models of effective patient care in our era of dynamic change.