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Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has long been identified as a way of providing optimal mental health services (MHS). It is important, therefore, to identify and facilitate factors driving IPC. This paper presents health professionals' experiences and perceptions regarding the clients' role as a driving factor for IPC in MHS in an Iranian context. Health professionals included nurses, physicians (general physicians and medical specialists), psychologists and consultants.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

OBJECTIVE:

This article discusses the strategies and challenges of implementing interprofessional education interventions with students from different disciplines. It reviews two models of interprofessional education in academic prelicensure curricula including the extra-curricular and the crossbar models by considering ease of implementation, program reach and sustainability. It also introduces the interprofessional enhancement approach as an additional curriculum development strategy.

RESULTS:

OBJECTIVE:

To create an interprofessional/interdisciplinary education (IPE), pilot course that provided a representative group of students the opportunity to develop a 6 week fall reduction program for a group of elder volunteers who were independently living in the community. The authors describe the processes that occurred for the course and student-led program to be developed.

RESULTS:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22316230

INTRODUCTION:

Cardiac surgery demands effective teamwork for safe, high-quality care. The objective of this pilot study was to develop a comprehensive program to sharpen performance of experienced cardiac surgical teams in acute crisis management.

METHODS:

Healthy Ager, an interprofessional service-learning clinical experience for health professions students, is a semester-long program of wellness and falls prevention for community-dwelling older adults. It provides a foundation for competency in geriatrics for students in nursing, physical therapy, social work, and communications disorders. Such interprofessional education is recommended by the Institute of Medicine.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22860478

PROBLEM ADDRESSED:

Family physicians provide most of the care for the frail elderly population, but many challenges and barriers can lead to difficulties with fragmented, ineffective, and inefficient services.

OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM:

To improve the quality, efficiency, and coordination of care for the frail elderly living in the community and to enhance geriatric and interprofessional skills for providers and learners.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

Although there are many examples of interprofessional education activities that focus on quality and safety, few include longitudinal experiences of teams working together over time. One exception is the Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars (VAQS) fellowship program. This article describes the integration of interprofessional education into the VAQS fellowship program, offers 2 examples of interprofessional projects conducted by the fellows, and discusses the VAQS program as a model for others to consider in developing interprofessional training programs in safety and quality improvement.

BACKGROUND:

Traditional approaches to curriculum delivery are primarily devoted to producing graduates who are proficient in their professional domain, leaving little time for interaction between disciplines. Rural doctors need to work closely with other health workers in the context of life in smaller communities.

CONTEXT: