The role of the Practice Consultant in cross organizational electronic collaboration in the health sector

This paper addresses how Practice Consultants can act as boundary spanners [1], [2] in order to improve collaboration and knowledge sharing in the health sector. Practice Consultants are in this paper defined as General Practitioners (GPs) that work in part time positions at hospitals with issues that are related to collaboration between primary care and specialized care. They are often experienced and know the work processes in primary care well. Special attention is paid to how the Practice Consultant can have a role in deployment of systems the support electronic collaboration across organizational boarders. The electronic referral and discharge letter are used as examples of boundary objects that can be influenced by the Practice Consultants work. Their knowledge about the work processes in collaborating organizations can be important for improvement of the quality of care in the patient trajectory.