CONTEXT:

Interprofessional education of pre-licensure students is viewed as an important precursor to developing healthcare professionals who are able to work collaboratively.

OBJECTIVES:

This study conducted a program evaluation of an innovative interprofessional communication skills initiative which incorporated problem-based learning, cooperative learning and standardized patients.

METHODS:

INTRODUCTION: In this study designed with adequate statistical power to detect relevant training effects, investigators evaluated Crisis Resource Management (CRM) training during a simulated patient crisis. This study is guided by the Team Effectiveness Conceptual Model by Kozlowski and Ilgen.

Although a core component of many current health-care directions, interprofessional collaboration continues to challenge educators and health professionals. This paper aims to inform the development of collaborative practice by illuminating the experiences of collaborating within rehabilitation teams. The researchers focused on experiences that transcended team members' professional role categorizations in order to bring individuals and their lived experiences to the forefront.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22250645

INTRODUCTION:

Studies exploring the role of patients in interprofessional education (IPE) are found primarily in undergraduate programmes with few reporting on the postgraduate (continuing professional development) setting. This paper describes an interprofessional quality improvement project around the management of back pain in a primary care setting where patients were part of the practice team.

METHODS:

The current shortage of health professionals necessitates new approaches to clinical education that can expand the number of undergraduate students undertaking clinical placements without increasing the burden on clinical staff or placing patients at risk. Interprofessional education has the potential to help increase clinical capacity whilst enriching students' clinical experience. This paper reports on a project which investigated the potential for interprofessional education to increase undergraduate clinical placement capacity in clinical settings.

This article describes the process of using an interprofessional team project to address one of the most commonly occurring challenges in health care delivery--medication reconciliation. We describe the planning and execution of the process and the lessons learned from the experience. The intent of this article is to document the significance of each process and the importance of each member involved in the process, and to act as a guideline for institutions planning similar interprofessional team project experiences for students.

BACKGROUND:

The hurricane disasters of 2005 and the threat of pandemic infectious diseases compel medical educators to develop emergency preparedness training for medical students and other health care professional students.

DESCRIPTION:

Evidence suggests that the utilisation of community palliative care services varies considerably according to different patient characteristics. Most literature describes this variability, but does not address why such differences exist. Exploring the processes underpinning referral making rather than simply describing the outcomes of referrals may further our understanding of this variability. The aim of this article was to investigate the influences on referral decisions made within community palliative care services.

"Seamless Care" was one of 21 grants awarded by Health Canada to inform policymakers of the effectiveness of interprofessional education in promoting collaborative patient-centred practice among health professionals. The "Seamless Care" model of interprofessional education was designed with input from three Faculties at Dalhousie University (Medicine, Dentistry and Health Professions). The design was grounded in relevant learning theories--Social Cognitive Theory, Self-efficacy, Situated Learning theory and Constructivism.