Exploring motivations, barriers and solutions for interdisciplinary practice in work-focused healthcare: a qualitative study among Dutch healthcare professionals.

Abstract

To explore the motivations, barriers and potential solutions from professionals' perspectives for achieving effective interdisciplinary practice, focusing on communication and collaboration to support work participation and facilitate patients' return-to-work (RTW). Qualitative exploratory interview study using thematic analysis. Primary and work-focused healthcare. 22 healthcare professionals, including occupational physicians (n=5), social insurance physicians (n=5), general practitioners (n=7) and occupational physiotherapists (n=5), were purposively recruited. All participants had at least 1 year of experience and were actively involved in patient care. None. Identified motivations, experienced barriers and proposed solutions for improving communication and collaboration across disciplines in work-focused healthcare. Participating healthcare professionals emphasised the importance of early, proactive and person-centred communication across care domains, particularly in complex or stagnating RTW trajectories. Key barriers included a lack of shared knowledge and common goals, limited understanding of each other's roles, time constraints, fragmented systems and regulatory restrictions. Proposed solutions focused on clearer coordination of care, improved role clarity and development of a secure, cross-domain digital communication platform to streamline information exchange. Effective work-focused healthcare requires improved interprofessional communication and patient-centred collaboration. This study highlights when collaboration is most valuable, identifies key barriers and outlines feasible practical solutions. Future research should focus on developing and implementing guidelines that clarify communication pathways and coordination mechanisms within interdisciplinary teams.