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Nurses represent the largest occupational group of health care professionals in Australia. The ratio of nurses to population is relatively consistent, unlike other health care professional groups (including medical doctors and allied health staff) whose numbers decline as population density and distance from metropolitan areas increases. Nurses working in areas where other health care professionals are limited or absent have expanded scopes of practice with their work being more generalist than specialist.

BACKGROUND:

The health system must develop effective solutions to the growing challenges it faces with respect to individuals who suffer with mental health disorders and addictions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability and potential impact on outcomes of a knowledge translation system aimed at improving client-centered, evidence-based care for hospitalized individuals with schizophrenia.

METHODOLOGY:

OBJECTIVE: to explore the nature of intra- and interprofessional communication on delivery suites, with a particular focus on patient safety.

DESIGN: longitudinal study using contrasting forms of observation: ethnographic methods alongside the highly structured Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) framework.

SETTING: four contrasting delivery suites offering different models of care and serving different populations: two in the north of England and two in London.

PARTICIPANTS: the multidisciplinary delivery suite teams and visiting professionals from related areas.

Primary care reform involving interprofessional team-based care is a global phenomenon. In Ontario, Canada, 150 Family Health Teams (FHTs) have been approved in the past few years. The transition to a FHT is complex involving many changes and the processes for collaborative teamwork are not clearly delineated. To support the transition to team-based care in FHTs, a project was undertaken to develop and implement a series of interprofessional protocols in four clinical areas.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine family health team (FHT) members' perspectives and experiences of interprofessional collaboration and perceived benefits.

DESIGN:

Qualitative case study using semistructured interviews.

SETTING:

Fourteen FHTs in urban and rural Ontario.

PARTICIPANTS:

Purposeful sample of the members of 14 FHTs, including family physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, and managers.

METHODS:

OBJECTIVES:

Little is known about the implementation of integrative medicine (IM) in Australian health care and the nature of interprofessional collaborations that have been established in IM. The aim of this research was to examine the relationships among general medical practitioners (GPs) and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners and their respective roles in co-located integrative practices.

DESIGN:

Increasingly, primary health care teams (PHCTs) depend on the contributions of multiple professionals. However, conflict is inevitable on teams. This article examines PHCTs members' experiences with conflict and responses to conflict. This phenomenological study was conducted using in-depth interviews with 121 participants from 16 PHCTs (10 urban and 6 rural) including a wide range of health care professionals. An iterative analysis process was used to examine the verbatim transcripts.

This article reports the students' reflections on interprofessional teamwork during brief exposures to real-life experiences in hospitals or home-based rehabilitation service. Each of the 10 interprofessional groups, comprising three students, followed a rehabilitation team for a day. The composition of each student group correlated with the rehabilitation team. Data were collected from interviews with the student groups and subjected to a thematic analysis.

A series of six interprofessional palliative care meetings used narrative, with participants sharing stories from their professional experience in facilitated small groups. The course was attended by doctors, nurses, social workers and emergency care practitioners. The course was evaluated by telephone interview with 19 of the 28 participants. Respondents reported effects including changed behaviours and benefit to patients. The use of narrative, as a starting point for shared learning, discussion and evaluation is unusual.

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.