The policy and the practice: early-career doctors and nurses as leaders and followers in the delivery of health care Mark Barrow • Judy McKimm • Sue Gasquoine Received: 28 September 2009 / Accepted: 27 May 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract There are increasing calls, from a range of stakeholders in the health sector, for healthcare professionals to work more collaboratively to provide health care. In response, education institutions are adopting an interprofessional education agenda in an attempt to provide health professionals ready to meet such calls. This article considers the nature of and interaction between professional and personal identity, power relations and leadership and followership in relation to the work practices of junior doctors and novice nurses and suggests ways in which understandings from these considerations might influence the educational preparation of students for these professions. Keywords Collaborative health care Á Followership Á Identity Á Interprofessional working Á Leadership Á Power Introduction Teams and teamwork The importance of teamwork and collaborative practice in health care delivery is under increasing debate (Baker et al. 2006; Wagner 2004). Discussions of adverse events in the healthcare quality and safety patient care literature suggest that the majority of causes of error are in deficiencies in non-technical skills, including communication failure, poor teamworking, poor leadership or poor decision-making (Gawande et al. 2003; Mallory et al. 2003; Runciman et al. 1993). Conversely, the smooth performance of teams has been linked to improved patient outcomes (Grumbach and Bodenheimer 2004). Thus, there are increasing calls from employers, funders and governments for institutions charged with the M. Barrow (&) Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand e-mail: m.barrow@auckland.ac.nz J. McKimm Á S. Gasquoine Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand 123 Adv in Health Sci Educ DOI 10.1007/s10459-010-9239-2