OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, rating, and potential impact of PRONTO, a low-tech and high-fidelity simulation-based training for obstetric and neonatal emergencies and teamwork using the PartoPants low-cost birth simulator.

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the implementation of an interprofessional shared learning model designed to promote the development of person-centered healthcare communication skills.

PARTICIPANTS:

Master of social work (MSW) and doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree students.

METHODS:

INTRODUCTION: Despite an explosion of interest in improving safety and reducing error in health care, one important aspect of patient safety that has received little attention is a systematic approach to education and training for the whole health care workforce. This article describes an evaluation of an innovative multiprofessional, team-based training program that embeds patient safety within quality improvement methods.

INTRODUCTION:

Health professions students interested in future rural practice locations spend a week learning about and investigating all aspects of small town personal, professional and community life. This augments the mainly clinical experience provided by clinical rotations they complete as part of their professional academic training program.

METHODS:

INTRODUCTION:

Care for the frail elderly is often provided by several professionals. Collaboration between them is essential, but remains difficult to achieve. Interprofessional education (IPE) can improve this collaboration. We developed a 9-hour IPE program for primary care professionals from 7 disciplines caring for the frail elderly, and aimed to establish whether the program improved professionals' interprofessional attitudes and attitudes toward collaboration, collaboration skills, and collaborative behavior. We also evaluated learners' reactions to the program.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22616414

Although interprofessional teamwork and collaboration are considered key elements for improving patient outcomes, there are few reports of controlled studies involving interprofessional training of health care learners in the ambulatory primary care setting. We describe an educational program for teams of nurse practitioners, family medicine residents and social work students to work together at clinical sites in the delivery of longitudinal care in primary care ambulatory clinics. Year 1 was a planning year.

Faculty from four disciplines at a small Liberal Arts College in an American Midwestern city collaborated on an interdisciplinary pre-service project. Students in nursing, physical therapy, social work and special education voluntarily participated in one of two group methods of teaching. The purpose of this study was to examine whether students learn interprofessional teaming more effectively from (i) discussion of research, faculty modeling and role-playing, or from (ii) discussion of research and role-playing.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18202992

A Communities of Practice (CoPs) approach was used to enhance interprofessional practice in seven clinical sites across Alberta. Participating staff were free to decide the area of practice to focus on and the actions to be implemented. All practice changes implemented by the CoPs related to either improving communications (e.g., introduction of joint care meetings) or information transfer (e.g., streamlining of admission and discharge processes).