Collaborative Practice is defined well as “an inter-professional process for communication and decision …show more content…
Based on content analysis of the qualitative comments given and the interprofessional collaboration survey items, there was high agreement among the two professionals with statements that IPC improves quality of care (91.8%), increases access to health services (87.1%), and was in the public interest (95.9%) (Eaton & Regan, 2015). While there are listed facilitators for IPC, there are also barriers for each. Many respondents commented on how barriers impede the ability to fully implement IPC in clinical practice. Others identified the negative effects barriers have on healthcare services and patient care, including policies that impede the ability to refer and diagnose clients, limited physician involvement, differing managerial policies in different settings, lack of administrator support, and fragmentation of services (Eaton & Regan, 2015). Other barriers that may conflict with IPC include the lack of knowledge about another health professional’s roles/responsibilities, competition, lack of time, conflicting interpretations of results, and regulatory policies. While responses vary by practice setting, those in the healthcare settings were more likely than those in schools to indicate that the cost of reimbursement was a barrier in their collaborative practice (Who’s Collaborating, 2013). Although, SLPs and AuDs support the concepts and advantages of IPC, the barriers that exist impede their implementation of an ideal interprofessional collaboration model in clinical practices. Future changes in policies may be needed in order to facilitate an appropriate IPC model into interdisciplinary practice environments (Eaton & Regan,