Lay participation in care: A challenge for multidisciplinary teamwork

Abstract

This paper draws on case study data from research exploring the introduction of lay participation in care within the context of a ward environment. In this action research study I worked with a multidisciplinay team on a general medical ward in a London teaching hospital, for a period of one year, in an attempt to foster a change in practice that would involve patients and their family/hends in care in hospital, with a view to better preparation for discharge. Lay participation in care is seen as a major thread of health promotion and whilst the research highlights many of the issues and problems concerned with tying to develop health professionals' educative/supportive roles, this paper concentrates on the findings that suggest a lack of multidisciplinary teamwork was an inhibiting factor in tying to change ward practice. Whilst case study findings cannot be generalised, the issues that will be raised in this paper include a lack of professional commitment to lay participation in care and factors that inhibited change on the ward, namely, the effect of transiency, the existence of functional rather than developmental models of health care practice, a lack of multidisciplinay team leadership and poor multidisciplinay team collaboration due to medical dominance.