Intra-professional Collaborative Practice among Nurses

Published: June 2016
Available in English, French
Healthy work environment (HWE)

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to strengthen collaborative practice among nurses, because effective collaborative practice is essential for working in health-care organizations. In this guideline, there is a focus on collaborative practice amongst three types of…

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to strengthen collaborative practice among nurses, because effective collaborative practice is essential for working in health-care organizations.

In this guideline, there is a focus on collaborative practice amongst three types of nursing professionals: 

  • registered nurse (RN), 
  • registered practical nurse (RPN), and 
  • nurse practitioner (NP) 

The guideline explores what fosters healthy work environments for these groups of nurses (being aware that collaboration must align with the needs of the patient or client). 

This guideline is aimed at all categories of nurse in all roles and practice settings, including

  • administrators at the unit, 
  • organizational and system level, 
  • clinical nurses, 
  • students, 
  • educators 
  • researchers
  • policy makers and governments, 
  • professional organizations, 
  • employers, 
  • labour groups, and
  • federal, provincial and territorial standard-setting bodies.

Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) (2016). Intra-professional Collaborative Practice among Nurses, Second Edition. Toronto, Ontario: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Intra-professional Collaborative Practice among Nurses.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Methodology documents

Revision status

Current edition published: June 2016.

This BPG replaces the RNAO BPG Collaborative Practice among Nursing Teams (2006).

Contact

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