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PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21182437

In exploring innovative approaches to enhanced patient care, an acute care interprofessional clinical learning unit (IPCLU) was established in a medical unit of a large metropolitan hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Part of a larger, community based, participatory mixed method research project, this acute-care model involved several post-secondary institution health science faculties, students, academics, and other post-secondary institutions partnering with the hospital to coordinate and enhance student clinical learning and improve patient care.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES:

The communication of patient prognosis is an essential component of modern healthcare. Previous research has focussed on clinician-to-patient communication only, while the interaction between different professionals in a clinical setting remains relatively unexplored. The research reported here investigated how multidisciplinary clinicians (nursing, medicine and allied health) communicated prognosis information in these professional groups in an acute care setting.

METHODS:

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the feasibility of recruitment and standardize care delivery for an interprofessional program for inflammatory arthritis education (Prescription for Education, or RxEd), and to explore outcomes relevant to arthritis patient education.

METHODS:

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important contributor to ensuring interprofessional collaboration and, ultimately, improving the quality of health care. However, there is a gap in available resources on critical success factors for implementing intentional interprofessional learning experiences. The Interprofessional Collaborative Organizational Map and Preparedness Assessment (IP-COMPASS) is a quality improvement framework that provides a structured process to help health care organizations become better prepared to offer IPE.

Symptom distress with end-of-life delirium (EOLD) is complex and multidimensional, and interprofessional (IP) teams require knowledge and skill to effectively care for these patients and their families. The purpose of this pilot study was to test an educational intervention about EOLD for IP teams at a long-term care facility and a hospice.

BACKGROUND:

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.

Faculties (i.e., schools) of medicine along with their sister health discipline faculties can be important organizational vehicles to promote, cultivate, and direct interprofessional education (IPE). The authors present information they gathered in 2007 about five Canadian IPE programs to identify key factors facilitating transformational change within institutional settings toward successful IPE, including (1) how successful programs start, (2) the ways successful programs influence academia to bias toward change, and (3) the ways academia supports and perpetuates the success of programs.

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