Terminology for interprofessional collaboration: Definition and current practice

OBJECTIVES Interprofessional collaboration leads to an improvement in health care. This call for increased interprofessional collaboration has led to national and international recommendations for interprofessional learning and education. The GMA has taken up this challenge and has implemented a working group on "interprofessional education in the health professions" to address this topic. The terminology used to describe collaboration among the health professions seems to vary and does not reflect any clear consensus. The aim of this paper is to identify the different terms used to describe collaboration between health professions and to analyse their use in German journals. METHODS The terms frequently used to describe collaboration between health professionals were identified and defined. German medical journals were then pragmatically analyzed regarding the use of the terms interprof* and interdiszip*. RESULTS The German terms for interprofessional and interdisciplinary were not used consistently in the journals reviewed. CONCLUSION There seems to be no agreement on the use of terms to describe the collaboration between health professions. Consistent terminology should be used as a basis for promoting collaboration and improving understanding among the parties involved.