Successful interprofessional collaboration on the hospice team

Despite the holistic approach inherent in the hospice philosophy, social work may be viewed in hospices as ancillary or secondary to medicine. Social work, in turn, may have a lack of training and sensitivity about other professions' expertise and values and as a result be unprepared to collaborate across the cultural boundary that exists between professions. Barriers to full use of all disciplines on the interdisciplinary team include lack of knowledge of the expertise of other professions, role blurring, conflicts arising from differences among professions in values and theoretical base, negative team norms, client stereotyping, and administrative issues. This article outlines the barriers and proposes solutions to address them.