Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a relatively new approach to initiating or managing organizational change that is associated with the 'positiveness' movement in psychology and its offshoot positive organizational scholarship. Rather than dwelling upon problems related to change, AI encourages individuals to adopt a positive, constructive approach to managing change. In recent years, AI has been used to initiate change across a broad range of public and private sector organizations.

BACKGROUND: There has been increasing interest in the active involvement of patients in the education of health professionals. Few have examined the potential role of patient educators in the facilitation of interprofessional education (IPE).

AIM: This qualitative program evaluation examined students' perceptions of their learning in a patient-facilitated IPE event.

Simulated learning activities are increasingly being used in health professions and interprofessional education (IPE). Specifically, IPE programs are frequently adopting role-play simulations as a key learning approach. Despite this widespread adoption, there is little empirical evidence exploring the teaching and learning processes embedded within this type of simulation. This exploratory study provides insight into the nature of these processes through the use of qualitative methods.

BACKGROUND: Ethical analysis frameworks can help to identify the ethical dimensions to clinical care and provide a method for justifying clinical decisions. Published frameworks, however, have some limitations to easy, practical use.

AIMS: The aim was to identify a comprehensive yet easy-to-use framework that clarifies ethical decision-making, suitable for use by medical learners and clinical educators.

OBJECTIVE:

To assess whether structured team briefings improve operating room communication. Design, Setting, and

PARTICIPANTS:

This 13-month prospective study used a preintervention/postintervention design. All staff and trainees in the division of general surgery at a Canadian academic tertiary care hospital were invited to participate. Participants included 11 general surgeons, 24 surgical trainees, 41 operating room nurses, 28 anesthesiologists, and 24 anesthesia trainees.

INTERVENTION:

INTRODUCTION: Historical bias toward service-oriented inpatient graduate medical education experiences has hindered both resident education and care of patients in the ambulatory setting.

AIM: Describe and evaluate a residency redesign intended to improve the ambulatory experience for residents and patients.

SETTING: Categorical Internal Medicine resident ambulatory practice at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.

The Interprofessional Rural Program of British Columbia (IRPBC) was established in 2003 as a pilot program aimed at supporting the recruitment of health and human service professionals to rural communities in British Columbia, Canada. The program was designed to expose students in the health and human service professions to rural communities and to assess whether this exposure increased the likelihood of their return to work in nonurban settings once they completed their studies.

CONTEXT:

Safe clinical practice is inextricably linked to team-working. Delivering patient safety education interprofessionally heightens students' awareness of the importance of effective team-working for safe care and care delivery.

METHODS:

We conducted a comparative study using mixed-method analysis among medical students learning about patient safety, either uni- or interprofessionally, towards the end of their training. Emphasis is placed on the detailed analysis of qualitative data relating to student perceptions of the event before and afterwards.

The objective of this study was to better understand the long-term effects of an improved model for cooperation on employment between rehabilitation professionals in vocational rehabilitation (VR). To compare these effects with those associated with the traditional model of cooperation. The study featured a group of patients who participated in a developmental project. All of the patients had some degree of restricted work capacity, which was evidenced somatically as well as mentally/socially.

This study aimed to determine the core competencies that underpin the practice of community rehabilitation (CR) practitioners working in a single state in Australia. Using a recursive and consultative methodology designed to build consensus, CR professionals, trainers, educators, and researchers developed a preliminary set of core interprofessional competencies that were considered essential to their practice.