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PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18412909

INTRODUCTION:

A pioneering and ground-breaking effort to organize interprofessional education (IPE) was initiated in 1986 at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Linkoping University in Sweden. The so-called "Linkoping IPE model" has now yielded practical experience and development of curricula for over 20 years. The basic idea of this model is that it is favorable for the development of students' own professional identity to meet other health and social professions already into their undergraduate studies.

Interprofessional education has been defined as "members or students of two or more professionals associated with health or social care, engaged in learning with, from and about each other". Ideally, students trained using interprofessional education paradigms become interprofessional team members who gain respect and improve their attitudes about each other, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. However, it has been stated that before interprofessional education can claim its importance and successes, its impact must be critically evaluated.

Institutions are increasingly considering interprofessional education (IPE) as a means to improve health care and reduce medical errors in the United States. Effective implementation of IPE within health professions education requires a strategic institutional approach to ensure longevity and sustainability.

Respect is important in the creation of a positive perioperative work environment and effective OR teams. Low scores for respect in the OR on an employee opinion survey and responses on a more customized survey that examined issues associated with respect prompted leaders at the University Health Network to undertake a multiyear organizational strategy to address respect and quality of worklife initiatives. An interprofessional quality of worklife task force convened to create an action plan to address the outcomes of the surveys.

AIM:

To examine the work and perceived impact of a dedicated specialist care homes support team.

METHOD:

A constructivist methodology was adopted. Data were collected in the form of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with staff, telephone interviews with managers, observation of meetings and teaching sessions, and analysis of documents.

FINDINGS:

This paper describes the articulation of a model of interprofessional mentorship derived from qualitative interviews with students and health and social care professionals who support students in practice settings. The findings describe three core components within the data: the facilitation of interprofessional learning; supervision of students and assessment of their learning. These components interact with the aim of developing interprofessional capability in students.

This article uses Wenger's (1998) theory of communities of practice, and in particular his learning design framework, to describe and evaluate the pedagogy of one interprofessional continuing professional development (CPD) programme for health, education and social care professionals. The article presents findings from 27 post-intervention interviews conducted 12 months after the CPD.

Transformation in the structure and delivery of services for children and young people in the UK Children Act (Department for Education & Skills, 2004. The Children Act. London: HMSO) initiated new alliances between statutory, public and voluntary agencies. Traditional relationships and notions of partnership have been extended, necessitating an innovative approach to dialogue and multiple perspectives.