Resource Center

The rapid uptake of simulation-based education has led to the development of simulation programs and centers all around the world. Unfortunately, many of these centers are functioning as localized silos and not taking advantage of the potential for collaboration with other regional centers to promote interprofessional education.

AIM:

To explore the perceptions of staff working in and referring to community-based intermediate care teams in Wales.

BACKGROUND:

Central and devolved governments have high expectations of intermediate care to promote independence and quality of life for older people and to solve the system pressures within the acute hospital sector. Developing an evidence base of the effectiveness of a model of care that is characterized by diversity and difference in practice is problematic.

METHOD:

We examined interprofessional (IP) attitudes and relationships within an emergent network, the Canadian Obesity Network (CON), using semi-structured individual interviews with 13 members of the CON. CON is a newly formed network of obesity researchers, health professionals, and other stakeholders whose vision is to reduce the mental, physical, and economic burden of obesity on Canadians. Analysis of participant contributions led to a "Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How?" framework of IP practice and obesity.

Teamwork, collaboration and interprofessional care are becoming the new standard in health care, and service delivery in work practice is no exception. Most rehabilitation professionals believe that they intuitively know how to work collaboratively with others such as workers, employers, insurers and other professionals. However, little information is available that can assist rehabilitation professionals in enacting authentic transdisciplinary approaches in work practice contexts.

UK government policy is encouraging healthcare staff to blur traditional roles, in the drive to increase joint working between practitioners. However, there is currently a lack of clarity regarding the impact that changes to traditional working practice might have on staff delivering the services, or on patient care. In this article, we report findings from three qualitative case studies examining interprofessional practice in stroke care, in which the influence of professional differences emerged as a significant theme.

BACKGROUND:

Clinical placements have been traditionally offered on a profession specific basis, and as a result, we have a good understanding of salient issues related to their development and delivery. We know less about the planning and implementation of collaborative clinical placements. Aims: This paper presents key findings from a qualitative study that explored the collaborative processes connected to an interprofessional planning group who created and implemented a clinical placement for medical, nursing and allied health students.

METHODS:

In this article, I explore what happens when specialist palliative care staff meet together to discuss patients under their care. Many studies (e.g., Atkinson) have discussed how health care practitioners in various settings use rhetorical strategies when presenting cases in situations such as ward rounds and team meetings. Strategies for arguing and persuading are central to medical practice in the interprofessional context.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19005957

Primary health care is undergoing significant organizational change, including the development of interdisciplinary health care teams. Understanding how teams function effectively in primary care will assist training programs in teaching effective interprofessional practices. This study aimed to explore the views of members of primary health care teams regarding what constitutes a team, team effectiveness and the factors that affect team effectiveness in primary care.

CONTEXT: The growing emphasis on teamwork within the National Health Service (NHS) has made it a priority to understand how health care teams learn together and cope with change.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore how collective learning and change happen in primary care teams and how the process varies across the disciplines of general medical practice, pharmacy and dentistry.

METHODS: This study reports on qualitative data gathered from 10 primary care teams over 1 year, by means of observational visits and 38 semi-structured interviews.