Sida vid sida i äldreomsorgen - En kvalitativ intervjustudie om tvärprofessionell samverkan mellan socionomer och sjuksköterskor

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to understand social workers’ and registered nurses' experiences of, and way of reasoning about interprofessional collaboration in the care of elderly people. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with three social workers and three registered nurses working with eldercare in two different municipalities in Sweden. The empirical material was analysed using Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Taylor and Kelly’s thoughts on streetlevel bureaucracy in a modern society as well as Skatvedt, Andvig and Baklien’s discussion of extreme street-level bureaucrats. In addition to these theoretical bases Hudson’s discussion about professional identity and professional status was used to analyse the empirical material. The study found that the participants had different conceptions regarding the importance of working with interprofessional collaboration in the municipal eldercare. While some of the participants described interprofessional collaboration as an essential part of their daily tasks, some argued that interprofessional collaboration was excessive in some parts of their work assignments. Furthermore bureaucratic organization was argued to be significant concerning how interprofessional collaboration was prioritized by the professionals. Likewise the participants argued that personal connection to the professionals participating in interprofessional collaborations was of decisive importance concerning the outcome of their common effort. Lastly the results indicated that professional identity often was used to describe how various professions conduct oneself while working interprofessional.