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In response to the Institute of Medicine challenge to improve patient safety and quality of care, an office directing patient safety/quality of care at an academic medical center and faculty from health professions schools collaborated on design, delivery, and evaluation of an interprofessional student curriculum on patient safety, quality, and teamwork. Annually for 6 years, second-year medical students, senior baccalaureate nursing students, second-year masters in health administration students, and junior baccalaureate respiratory therapy students participated.

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.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18412893

OBJECTIVES:

The Institute of Medicine called for the integration of interprofessional education (IPE) into health professions curricula, in order to improve health care quality. In response, we developed, implemented, and evaluated a campus wide IPE program, shifting from traditional educational silos to greater collaboration.

METHODS:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800284

CONTEXT: The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for supporting interprofessional communication is becoming increasingly common in health care. However, little research has explored how ICTs affect interprofessional communication, or how novices are trained to be effective interprofessional ICT users. This study explores the interprofessional communication strategies of nurses and doctors (trainees and experts) when their communications were mediated by a specific ICT: an electronic patient record (EPR).

With longer survival, individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are facing a multitude of health-related challenges due to HIV, its associated concurrent health conditions, and treatments. Despite the need for rehabilitation, few rehabilitation professionals work with people living with HIV, with many feeling they lack adequate knowledge and skills to assess and treat this population.

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the implementation of an interprofessional shared learning model designed to promote the development of person-centered healthcare communication skills.

PARTICIPANTS:

Master of social work (MSW) and doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree students.

METHODS:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800283

CONTEXT:

Poor interprofessional relationships in maternity units have resulted in a number of suboptimal outcomes: students are reluctant to pursue careers in obstetrics and gynaecology (O & G); trainees feel bullied, and poor communication between professionals results in avoidable adverse events. Interprofessional learning has been advocated to improve interprofessional relationships, but recent interventions have not been successful at undergraduate level. This study aimed to address this issue locally and then to disseminate our lessons, successes and challenges.