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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:

BACKGROUND:

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.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This paper presents findings from a small piece of interpretive research into the lived experience of trained nurses who fulfilled the role of workplace mentors for Foundation degree students. The interprofessional landscape of workplace learning is also examined.

This article is a short report that describes an initiative in interprofessional education (IPE) and collaboration in health practices in a community health organisation. Staff and students from nursing and allied health professions collaborate to implement a video feedback parenting programme. The results include an increased awareness of the benefits of both IPE and infant mental health principles, in particular the establishment of a common language across professions. Further systematic evaluations are required.

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.