Sensemaking in Interprofessional Communication

This chapter proposes sensemaking as a useful lens for practitioners to understand interprofessional communication. Compared to a transmission view of interprofessional communication which depicts communication as merely a means by which information can be transmitted and shared between two or more collaborators, sensemaking accounts for how communication is also a social process of meaning-making that is informed by specific situations and contexts on the one hand and shared meanings for collective action on the other. A sensemaking perspective is particularly relevant for understanding interprofessional collaborative practices that entail a high level of interdependence between collaborators and situational complexity, such as integrated care planning for complex cases.