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The ability to work with professionals from other disciplines to deliver collaborative, patient-centred care is considered a critical element of professional practice requiring a specific set of competencies. However, a generally accepted framework for collaborative competencies is missing, which makes consistent preparation of students and staff challenging. Some authors have argued that there is a lack of conceptual clarity of the "active ingredients" of collaboration relating to quality of care and patient outcomes, which may be at the root of the competencies issue.

Interprofessional education (IPE) in health and social care undergraduate education is a key governmental driver [DOH, 2001. Working Together, Learning Together. A Framework for Lifelong Learning in the NHS. HMSO, London]. In the UK, IPE has been advocated and developed as a means to encourage effective collaboration in order to improve public sector services [Barr, H., Ross, F., 2006. Mainstreaming interprofessional education in the United Kingdom: a position paper. Journal of Interprofessional Care 20 (2), 96-104].

There is limited research on how health professionals are currently socialized to work interprofessionally. As part of a large-scale initiative funded by Health Canada, this report adds to our understanding of socialization and how it can prepare the health care student for an interprofessional health care environment. Data were collected through semistructured individual and group interviews with 83 respondents (i.e., faculty, students, health care and academic administrators, and health care providers) at seven clinical sites and five academic institutions throughout Alberta.

CONTEXT: The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for supporting interprofessional communication is becoming increasingly common in health care. However, little research has explored how ICTs affect interprofessional communication, or how novices are trained to be effective interprofessional ICT users. This study explores the interprofessional communication strategies of nurses and doctors (trainees and experts) when their communications were mediated by a specific ICT: an electronic patient record (EPR).

PURPOSE: This article presents a descriptive research study that investigated the issues discussed in rehabilitation case conferences, with specific reference to patients with acquired communication disabilities of neurological origin.

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.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19995269

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20178422

BACKGROUND: Asynchronous e-learning is an appealing option for interprofessional education (IPE) as it addresses the geographic and timetabling barriers often encountered when organizing activities across educational programs.

AIM: This study examined the extent to which pre-licensure students were able to learn with, from, and about each other through completion of innovative online IPE learning modules.

BACKGROUND:

Interprofessional education (IPE) is being led by a driving force of teaches who advocate for the importance of this learning within health and social care professional curriculum. Many of these leaders have additional uni professional teaching responsibilities.

AIMS:

This study aimed to explore the impact of leading an IPE curriculum on teachers, who were at the forefront of establishing a new IPE curriculum in the east midlands, UK.

METHODS: