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The intensive care unit (ICU), where death is common and even survivors of an ICU stay face the risk of long-term morbidity and re-admissions to the ICU, represents an important setting for improving communication about palliative and end-of-life care. Communication about the goals of care in this setting should be a high priority since studies suggest that the current quality of ICU communication is often poor and is associated with psychological distress among family members of critically ill patients.

In this paper, the authors outline the rationale, planning, delivery, results, evaluation and knowledge transfer strategies employed in offering an eight-hour education day offered 12 times in 2010, to a total of 200 staff in three Toronto General Hospital (TGH) intensive care units (ICU) at the University Health Network (UHN). The integration of members from the point-of-care staff teams into the planning, development, presentation and attendance was a critical success factor for this initiative.

To develop and evaluate a classroom-based curriculum designed to promote interprofessional competencies by having undergraduate students from various health professions work together on system-based problems using quality improvement (QI) methods and tools to improve patient-centered care.

DESIGN:

BACKGROUND: There is a need for tools by which to evaluate the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that underlie interprofessional socialization and collaborative practice in health care settings.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children-Canada has developed an innovative Interprofessional Education Program to help tomorrow's healthcare professionals gain the skills and knowledge they need to work effectively in teams to provide efficient, collaborative and family-centred care. Undergraduate students in nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy participated in group discussions, seminars by staff members and group presentations.

INTRODUCTION:

Interprofessional collaborative practices are increasingly recognized as an effective way to deal with complex health problems. However, health sciences students continue to be trained in specialized programs and have little occasion for learning in interdisciplinary contexts.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT:

INTRODUCTION:

Collaboration, within and between healthcare teams, facilitates effective healthcare. Internationally, the development of interprofessional education, as a means to facilitate more effective teamwork in health care, has been recognized for over forty years.

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this paper is to evaluate students' attitudes toward the influence of interprofessional education on improvement of collaboration and teamwork.

METHODS:

BACKGROUND:

BACKGROUND: Very little research has been conducted in the area of depression among older home care clients using personal support services. These older adults are particularly vulnerable to depression because of decreased cognition, comorbid chronic conditions, functional limitations, lack of social support, and reduced access to health services. To date, research has focused on collaborative, nurse-led depression care programs among older adults in primary care settings. Optimal management of depression among older home care clients is not currently known.

This article focuses on the description of an educational initiative, the Interdisciplinary Population Health Project (IPHP) conducted in the academic year of 2006-2007 with a group of nursing and health care students. Inspired by population health, community development, critical pedagogy, and the inequalities imagination model, students participated in diverse educational activities to become immersed in the everyday life of an underserved urban neighborhood. A sample of convenience composed of 158 students was recruited from 4 health disciplines in a Western Canadian university.