Syndicom

Collaboration as a living process – Together we rise.

When we consider how work gets done in the medical realm, we very often focus solely on ‘the physician’, ‘the nurse’, or ‘the surgeon’ and consider them as individual actors. But is this a fair representation of the work they do and the people they are? Should they act as solo professionals or are those we entrust with caring for us better off engaging in “the wisdom of crowds”?

Think back to your most recent team experience, be it at work or doing some form of sport. Heck, think about the Olympics! What happens when we work with others that does not happen when we work alone? Some potential answers include…

1.Feedback.
2.Enhanced Resources.
3.Learning.
4.Support.
5.Enhanced Productivity.

But, as we all know, teams fall apart. Groups go bad. Relationships break down. In many cases the decline of collective power and intelligence is precipitated by attachments we hold. Individual goals become more important than those of the group. Sharing knowledge or asking questions challenges attachments to expert identities. Collaboration dies as processes of connection and communication wither.
So how to sustain communication when we are collaborating (to work with another on a joint endeavor)? Strangely enough, the products of group work are also its processes but there is an even deeper phenomenon at work – commitment. Scholars of community state that “community” as a phenomenon, and we would argue, “collaboration” are performed when the following conditions are present:

1.An affinity with others
2.A collective of passionate members
3.A platform for shared interests and experiences
4.A dedication to connection
5.An experience of mutual enrichment

Humans are affiliative beings. We are meant to be interdependent. How can we rise together when we are separated? How can we be well if those trained to guide our bodies to wellness are isolated from each other? Health 2.0 is participatory healthcare where enabled by information, software, and community that we collect or create, we can create effective partnerships for improving clinical practice. SpineConnect, as an exemplar of Health 2.0 practice creates collaborative spaces and platforms for surgeon-to-surgeon communication, an ecosystem of sounding boards for peer advice and a culture of cooperative problem solving based on instantaneous feedback on challenging cases. Members of this international community of surgeons come to the same table to discuss real world problems in real time. This is what it means to collaborate. This is what it means to rise together. This is the future of healthcare practice.

Kirsten Broadfoot