Resource Center

BACKGROUND: Good intercollegial communication is a relatively unstudied topic, although it is important for both health professionals and patients, contributing to enhanced well-being, self-awareness and integrity for health professionals, and positively affecting patient outcome and satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a communication skills training course would improve intercollegial communication in an orthopaedic department.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the original continuity of care framework is still applicable to family medicine today.

DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive study.

SETTING: Kingston, Ont.

PARTICIPANTS: Three groups of first-year family medicine residents (18 in total), 2 groups of family physicians in established comprehensive practices (9 in total), and 2 groups of family physicians working in episodic care settings (10 in total).

The provision of high-quality education and training that is responsive, relevant, accessible and evidence based is critical if the vision for quality mental health services presented in recent policy initiatives in Ireland is to be fulfilled. This paper reports the findings related to pedagogical approaches and quality assurance mechanisms utilized within mental health education. The study involved canvassing all Higher Education Institutions in Ireland. A total of 227 courses in 31 educational institutes were identified and 149 questionnaires were returned from 129 Course Coordinators.

This article reports our experience of developing half-day sessions of interprofessional simulation for pre-qualifying students from medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, radiography and operating department practice. One hundred and ninety-one students participated in a session. A questionnaire consisting of Likert type, visual analog and open comment questions explored their perceptions of the sessions as a learning experience, their attitudes toward interprofessional learning and the factors important for good patient care either after, or before and after, the session, as appropriate.

BACKGROUND:

In neonatal intensive care, a child's death is often preceded by a medical decision. Nurses, social workers and pastors, however, are often excluded from ethical case deliberation. If multiprofessional ethical case deliberations do take place, participants may not always know how to perform to the fullest.

SETTING:

A level-IIID neonatal intensive care unit of a paediatric teaching hospital in the Netherlands.

METHODS:

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine new-graduate nurses' perceptions of the influence of authentic leadership and structural empowerment on the quality of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare work environments.

BACKGROUND: Although the challenges associated with true interprofessional collaboration are well documented, new-graduate nurses may feel particularly challenged in becoming contributing members. Little research exists to inform nurse leaders' efforts to facilitate effective collaboration in acute care settings.

Attitudes amongst health professionals can impact on the effectiveness of teamworking and patient care. Interprofessional education (IPE) is thought to contribute to the development of positive attitudes. An Interprofessional Training Unit (ITU) was set up to create an optimal learning environment for healthcare students. Students' attitudes were assessed, using a version of the Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ) that had been translated into the students' native language. This paper describes the process undertaken to obtain a trustworthy translation.

Research has suggested that interprofessional collaboration could improve patient outcomes in the intensive care unit (ICU). Maintaining optimal interprofessional interactions in a setting where unpredictable medical crises occur periodically is however challenging. Our study aimed to investigate the perceptions of ICU health care professionals regarding how acute medical crises affect their team interactions. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews of ICU nurses, staff physicians, and respiratory therapists.

General internal medicine (GIM) is a communicatively complex specialty because of its diverse patient population and the number and diversity of health care providers working on a medicine ward. Effective interprofessional communication in such information-intensive environments is critical to achieving optimal patient care. Few empirical studies have explored the ways in which health professionals exchange patient information and the implications of their chosen communication forms.