Tapping into Emotional Contagion as a Vehicle to Advancing Interprofessionalism

Programs, courses, and interventions aimed at advancing interprofessionalism among students, faculty, and/or practitioners has consistently focused on models of differentiation - spotlighting what each individual profession uniquely brings to the table. Although this approach has advanced the field and scope of practice to some extent, recent arguments suggest that highlighting commonalities and shared identities among professionals and students may actually encourage a more through and sustained internalization of interprofessional values and practices. Emotional contagion captures that idea that emotions are contagious, that you can involuntarily catch them from others. Often described as a potentially problematic experience, we take an innovative and more positive approach to expand emotional contagion theory by connecting interprofessional practice and education with research on the sharing of emotions among athletic team members as well as neurological mirroring concepts. In short, we outline how this innate interpersonal phenomena reflecting innate human interconnectivity can serve as a conduit to cultivate commonality and personalization among healthcare professionals and health profession students. In doing so, we propose teaching tools and exercises to showcase emotional contagion in an interprofessional setting, classroom, simulation-based, or clinical learning environment, may advance interprofessionalism, lend to better health outcomes for patients, and even prevent symptoms of burnout for students and professionals.