Fra ensidighet til gjensidighet: Samhandling om pasienter med langvarige og sammensatte behov

The purpose of the study was to explore health care professionals’ experiences of collaboration across service levels concerning people with long term and complex mental disorders, and these professionals’ reflections on practice improvement. Four focus group interviews were conducted, including 33 health care professionals from a wide range of municipality and specialist care units. The findings were discussed at a round table conference with the professionals involved. The services were described as simultaneously overlapping and incomplete. Suggestions for improvement included a better-founded understanding of the interacting parties, level overarching continuity of services, and more flexible procedures regarding patients’ transitions between health care service levels. There is a need for systematic mutual knowledge of the collaboration partners, responsibility clarification, and recognition of each other’s competence and limitations