Interprof ACT – Improvement of the interprofessional collaboration between doctors and nurses in elderly care homes

Interprofessional collaboration, i.e. the cooperation of different professional groups, is important in many industries and areas. In healthcare in particular, smooth collaboration between the actors involved, including physicians and nurses, is of central importance, as it significantly influences the quality of patient care and thus the well-being of patients.
In nursing-home care, which plays an increasingly important societal and economic role in Germany, collaboration between physicians and nurses is often difficult due to temporal, organizational and communication challenges. At the same time, well-functioning collaboration is particularly important due to the special characteristics of patients, e.g. multimorbidity or dementia, and the limited treatment options on site.


Aim of project:
The research project investigates effects of strategies to improve physician-nurse collaboration in the care of nursing-home residents.
Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Indre Maurer
Project team: Dr. Clarissa E. Weber, Christian Kortkamp, M.Sc.

Cooperation partners:
The interdisciplinary research team involves scholars of the following departments:

  • Department of General Practice at the University Medical Center Göttingen
  • Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Hamburg University Medical School
  • Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology Lübeck University
  • Department of Medical Statistics, UMG


Exemplary publications from the research field:

  • Weber, C.E.; Kortkamp, C.; Maurer, I.; Hummers, E. (2022). Boundary work in response to professionals’ contextual constraints: Micro-strategies in interprofessional collaboration. Organization Studies 43(9): 1453-1477.
  • Gärtner, L.; Kortkamp, C.; Müller, C.; Tetzlaff, B.; Fleischmann, N.; Weber, C.E.; Scherer, M.; Kühn, A.; Jarchow, A.-M.; Lüth, F.; Köpke, S.; Friede, T.; König, H.H.; Hummers, E.; Maurer, I.; Balzer, K. (2022). Implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors of a complex intervention to improve interprofessional collaboration and the quality of medical care for nursing home residents: Study protocol of the process evaluation of the interprof ACT intervention package. Trials: in press.
  • Müller, C., Hesjedal-Streller, B., Fleischmann, N., Tetzlaff, B., Mallon, T., Scherer, M., Köpke, S., Balzer, K., Gärtner, L., Maurer, I., Friede, T., König, H. H., & Hummers, E. (2020). Effects of strategies to improve general practitioner-nurse collaboration and communication in regard to hospital admissions of nursing home residents (interprof ACT): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials, 21(1), 913: 1-14.


The project receives funding from the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee.
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