Abstract

"Collaborative what?" I hear you say. Yes, my thoughts exactly. Sometimes the title of a conference is prohibitive, but not this one. At the opening, Cecily Begley provoked the audience by exploring professional relationships and how, historically, nurses and midwives have been handmaidens to doctors. She also discussed how contemporary practice still holds on to some of these values and models of working. She showed how difficult it has been to integrate autonomous practice into a medical model of care developing collaboration essential to good healthcare practice. Dr. Begley suggested that maybe doctors do not define their own roles but health professionals often perceive them as powerful decision-makers and thus become subservient. She discussed the need for flexible, collaborative teamworking where interpersonal skills are utilised and an understanding of each other's roles facilities the appreciation of everyone's contribution to the care provided. (Later, Denis Walsh discussed this, encouraging the audience to contemplate the social model of midwifery and the implications this has for women.) [From the article's introduction]