Question

How can the concept of upstream thinking (remember this concept from NR443?) apply to interprofessional team approaches to care?

Answer 1

Upstream thinking means taking wise collective action to ensure better outcomes rather than simply responding to, and being overwhelmed by, crises we could have foreseen.Upstream thinking—focuses on interventions that promote health or prevent illness, not care after illness, macroscopic - population

To deal with the complex health care demands and to deliver efficient, safe, and high quality care, different health care professionals need to collaborate. This process of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is defined by the World Health Organization as: “Multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care. Instead of a fragmented health care supply of single health care professionals, IPC aims to attain more tailored and synchronized health care delivery from a diversity of disciplines. Within this process, the patient’s perspective plays a central role. In patient-centred care, the individual patient’s goals are at the centre of care Almost everyone who seeks medical care interacts with more than one health professional. The number of professionals involved and the importance of their ability to work collaboratively increases with the complexity of the patient's needs. New initiatives to improve management of diseases such as asthma, diabetes, or congestive heart failure invariably point out the need for interprofessional collaboration.By connecting individuals and partner organization through common language and goals, Upstream will help to create public demand for policies and actions consistent with the new frame, and ultimately mobilize citizens and our government to build a truly healthy society.

Upstream Thinking and Health Promotion Health promotion is `the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health’ (WHO, 1984).The promotion of health and social development is a central duty and responsibility of governments that all sectors of society share and concluded that ‘health promotion must be a fundamental component of public policies and programmes in all countries in the pursuit of equity and health for all.