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BACKGROUND:

A four-year action research study was conducted across the Australian Capital Territory health system to strengthen interprofessional collaboration (IPC) though multiple intervention activities.

METHODS:

This paper explores the relationship between time allocation on formal and informal forms of contact within interprofessional teams and an interdependent collaboration. Data were collected by a questionnaire including items on work organization, team climate and time allocation that was responded to by 226 professionals from 44 interprofessional teams. An additional sample of 139 professionals from 18 teams responded to the same questionnaire except for the item on time allocation. The teams worked within occupational health care, psychiatry, rehabilitation and school health care.

In order to improve efficiency and collaboration in healthcare service provision, it is recommended that students engage in interprofessional education; that is, learning with, from and about professions other than one's own profession. Such endeavors are often impeded by pre-existing attitudes; therefore, self-reporting scales such as the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) have often been used in studies to gauge perspectives. The original 19-item version of the RIPLS was completed by 418 undergraduate healthcare students from a large Australian University.

The Health-e-Learning project investigated the use of videoconferencing to deliver interprofessional clinical education to allied health students. Via a broadband link, students observed DVD footage of a clinical session then participated in discussion with the clinicians at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), Melbourne. The videoconference sessions were evaluated with respect to session content, the effectiveness of videoconferencing in providing interprofessional education (IPE) and the satisfaction with this as a supplement to facility-based placements.

Interprofessional education (IPE) for teams of undergraduate students has since 1999 been carried out at the orthopedic emergency department at the Karolinska University Hospital. During a 2-week period, teams of medical, nursing and physiotherapy students practice together. With the aim of training professional and collaboration skills, the teams take care of patients with varying acute complaints, under the guidance of supervisors from each profession.

This paper reports work from a Centre for Interprofessional Practice in a higher education institution in the UK that offers four levels of interprofessional learning (IPL) to all healthcare students. The second level (IPL2) integrates professional practice into the learning process, requiring students to shadow a qualified healthcare professional (from a different profession) for half a day. Students complete a reflective statement upon their learning experience on their return.

Existing validated measures of pharmacist-physician collaboration focus on measuring attitudes toward collaboration and do not measure frequency of interactions that comprise actual collaborative behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure the frequency of collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists from the GP's perspective.

A three-year programme was established for practitioners who work with acutely ill and injured children and young people. Courses were held in urban and rural areas of Scotland and more than 2,000 NHS staff, including nurses, paramedics, doctors and allied health professionals, took part. Three-day training comprised clinical skills updates, scenario-based teaching and observed structural clinical examinations. As a result, NHS Scotland says care delivery to children, young people and their families has improved in community and hospital environments.

BACKGROUND:

Existing validated measures of pharmacist-physician collaboration focus on measuring attitudes toward collaboration and do not measure frequency of collaborative interactions.

OBJECTIVE:

To develop and validate an instrument to measure the frequency of collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs) from the pharmacist's perspective.

METHODS:

RATIONALE:

Parent presence during invasive procedures and/or resuscitation is a relatively underdeveloped and controversial practice. Much of the concern stems from the apprehension of the medical community.

OBJECTIVES:

To evaluate whether implementation of formal practice guidelines and corresponding interprofessional education would improve clinicians' sense of preparation and comfort in providing parents with options during their children's procedures.

METHODS: