How do clinicians' professional bodies characterise interprofessional care?

Interprofessional care represents international best practice. Despite evidence of what works to promote it, interprofessional care does not always occur. This might be partly because much research myopically examines health or social care teams, health services, and/or education. This study addresses this by examining how clinicians' professional bodies characterise interprofessional care. An examination of the official websites of 25 professional bodies, spanning five professions and five nations found that, with few exceptions, the strategic foci of these professional bodies did not explicitly recognise the role of counterpart professions. Furthermore, references to these counterparts and interprofessional teamwork were somewhat embedded within the websites and not readily apparent. This suggests considerable opportunity to promote interprofessional care via clinicians' professional bodies.