The World Health Organization (WHO, 2010, p. 7), in their Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice, described team-based collaborative care as occurring when “multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds provide comprehensive health services by working with patients, their families, carers, and communities, to deliver the highest quality of care across settings.”
Since 2010, there has been less emphasis placed on health professionals and more emphasis on teams of health and social care providers from a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds. “Patients” has become a more inclusive term to include individuals, service users, families, and communities seeking care, services, and supports.
“I am Metis from the Red River Settlement in Manitoba and I am a family physician. To me, team-based care is about how we work together in a relational way. Mino Pimatosiwiin was told to me by Elders and Knowledge Keepers to mean the good life or living a good life. The way I have come to understand it is, it requires us to have an understanding of who we are and the path that we walk within the circle of life, embracing our gifts given to us by the creator. When I think of health care delivery, we need to be striving for everyone to have Mino Pimatosiwiin. This requires us to not only reflect on how we conduct ourselves as individuals but includes how we live in relation with each other and in relation to the land and all it encompasses. When working together in a relational way we honor and uplift each other’s gifts, to achieve a common purpose. The patient needs to be honored and viewed as part of our team and therefore, they are our relation. We need to include those gifts of others that are necessary to achieve Mino Pimatosiwiin and this may include: community, family, Elders/Knowledge Keepers, Traditional Medicine Healers. This to me is true collaborative team-based care.”
Mandy Buss, physician
