The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of people to be ill and led to millions of deaths worldwide. This public health emergency has affected everyone’s life and well-being. Through the suffering, however, there is one silver lining: The pandemic has also provided motivation for different disciplines to come together and put up a united front against this crisis.
Interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration are crucial to both research and care settings. When experts with different specialisms are able to come together and help each other, better outcomes are guaranteed for all.
As early as 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) was stating the importance of interprofessional educationTrusted Source — that is, mutual teaching and learning exchanges between healthcare professionals with different specialisms — for the future of public health.
“Interprofessional education is a necessary step in preparing a ‘collaborative practice-ready’ health workforce that is better prepared to respond to local health needs,” the WHO then stated.
However, there are myriad obstacles in the way of interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration. These include a lack of targeted fundingTrusted Source and rigid, incompatible frameworks.
Perhaps for the first time in many decades, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the motivation necessary for specialists from varied disciplines and professions to come together and overcome existing differences and difficulties.
The public health crisis has also meant that researchers have had more access to national and international funding, as they strove to develop effective vaccines to prevent infection and severe disease and drugs that could help fight COVID-19.
Post time: Jan-17-2022