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Learning in clinical education can be understood as a process of becoming a legitimate participant in the relevant context. Interprofessional training wards (IPTWs) are designed to give students from educational programmes in health and social care a realistic experience of collaboration for the purpose of developing teamwork skills. IPTWs have been found to be appreciated by the students and to influence students' understanding of each other's professions.

BACKGROUND: The need for interprofessional education has been apparent for decades and in 2004, we established the first Interprofessional Training Unit (ITU) in Denmark. Nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students were in the ITU for its first 2 years and in 2006, medical students joined in. The students in collaboration run a ward with eight beds under the supervision of trained personnel.

INTRODUCTION:

Health professions students interested in future rural practice locations spend a week learning about and investigating all aspects of small town personal, professional and community life. This augments the mainly clinical experience provided by clinical rotations they complete as part of their professional academic training program.

METHODS:

The CPD(iQ) Saskatchewan Project (ICEC(4)) is directed by the Inter-Professional Continuing Education for Collaborative Client Centered Care Committee, representing the disciplines of medicine, nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy, kinesiology and dentistry at the University of Saskatchewan. It was designed to serve two target audiences: the urban underserved community that would access services at the West Winds Primary Care Centre; and health professionals at the West Winds who would deliver educational modules to those in need.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19012146

The Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation endorsed the Institute of Medicine (IOM) dimensions of health care quality as safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered. The Taiwan Association of Medical Education has also adopted the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) outcome project and core competencies for Taiwan physicians in training. These schemes focus on patient care, medical knowledge and skills, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, system-based practice and practice-based learning and improvement.

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.

A review of the formal ethics consultations performed at a rural academic medical center during 2006 revealed that only 5 of 72 consultations were initiated by nurses. A descriptive exploratory convenience study used a 3-item survey to collect information from registered nurses who provide direct patient care at the rural academic medical center.

This article describes the evolution of a multiprofessional group in a psychiatric nursing home for older people with mental illness and challenging behaviours. The nursing home has gained a reputation for excellence, and we believe the group has contributed to this. To analyse how the group has helped, a staff survey was carried out. As a result, we suggest that groups like this should be a standard part of community liaison services for residential homes for older people.