Interprofessional Teamwork in Healthcare. Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemics

The way healthcare professionals and professions have been working together throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented teamwork, is a key aspect of the COVID-19 narrative. As we leave urgent situations and move towards post-COVID, questions about interprofessional work in healthcare emerge and need to be explored.

What characteristics did these teams assume throughout the pandemic? What negotiations took place in terms of professional boundaries? What types of professional interactions were less successful and how did that impact the provision of healthcare? What are the physical and social devices that facilitate or inhibit interprofessional work? What is the context-specific factors surrounding COVID-19 that have influenced the nature of interprofessional work in conditions of extreme pressure and urgency? To what extent are the observed changes in interprofessional work sustainable and what are the lessons of the pandemic in relation to future planning of the health workforce? What has been the impact of the pandemic in the professions system including professional hierarchies and issues related to professionalism?

In this session, we invited to submit papers that address these topics either in singular or comparative perspective.