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We examined interprofessional (IP) attitudes and relationships within an emergent network, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON), using semi-structured individual interviews with 13 members of the CON. CON is a newly formed network of obesity researchers, health professionals, and other stakeholders whose vision is to reduce the mental, physical, and economic burden of obesity on Canadians. Analysis of participant contributions led to a "Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How?" framework of IP practice and obesity.

Teamwork, collaboration and interprofessional care are becoming the new standard in health care, and service delivery in work practice is no exception. Most rehabilitation professionals believe that they intuitively know how to work collaboratively with others such as workers, employers, insurers and other professionals. However, little information is available that can assist rehabilitation professionals in enacting authentic transdisciplinary approaches in work practice contexts.

Faculties (i.e., schools) of medicine along with their sister health discipline faculties can be important organizational vehicles to promote, cultivate, and direct interprofessional education (IPE). The authors present information they gathered in 2007 about five Canadian IPE programs to identify key factors facilitating transformational change within institutional settings toward successful IPE, including (1) how successful programs start, (2) the ways successful programs influence academia to bias toward change, and (3) the ways academia supports and perpetuates the success of programs.

This project brought together community-based practitioners and academics to develop and deliver interventions designed to enhance the leadership abilities of the designated leaders of seven rural/small town-based palliative care teams. Members of these community-based teams have already gained recognition for their teams' leadership and service delivery in their communities. All of the teams had worked closely with most members of the academic team prior to this project.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19005957

Primary health care is undergoing significant organizational change, including the development of interdisciplinary health care teams. Understanding how teams function effectively in primary care will assist training programs in teaching effective interprofessional practices. This study aimed to explore the views of members of primary health care teams regarding what constitutes a team, team effectiveness and the factors that affect team effectiveness in primary care.

We studied the workings of a rehabilitation team in a videoconference setting to note the pros and cons of videoconferencing in the development of interprofessional care plans (ICPs). We recorded every videoconference held by the teams of the specialized centre and the regional centre for clients with traumatic brain injuries over an 18-month period. Thirteen recorded videoconferences, lasting for 30-98 min, were analysed through an observation grid.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085202

This report demonstrates the application of a competency model to the regulated and unregulated professions of medical radiation technology, social work, pharmacy, and psychology. The competency model is based on the CanMEDS framework and was originally applied to the professions of medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing in an earlier work. The framework identifies the core competencies common to learners in health care, which are professional (and health advocate), expert, scholar, manager, communicator, and collaborator.

This qualitative research paper describes a successful example of interprofessional education with family medicine residents (FMR) by a nurse practitioner (NP) colleague. The educational impact of the NP role in regard to smoking cessation counselling is revealed by the analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews using a phenomenological approach. The key themes depicted the NP as an educator and mentor, encourager and referral resource. Outcomes of improved knowledge, skills, and motivation towards providing smoking cessation counselling are described.