This column shares the lived experiences of four Master Trainers who used storytelling as the methodology for teaching TeamSTEPPS to interprofessional staff members of a large health system. TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based program that focuses on skills and behaviors that improve teamwork and communication, which are key to preventing medical errors.

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PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21053802

As more educators are involved in interprofessional education (IPE) it is important to consider how participation affects those who are sceptical about IPE. We report a prospective study in which the attitudes of 13 educators, unfamiliar with IPE, were compared before and after facilitating their first IPE. Their views, obtained as personal stories, were analysed through cognitive dissonance theory. Prior to teaching, all novice educators had concerns about IPE. Post-facilitation all were more positive about the value and meaning of IPE.

Most shared decision-making (SDM) models within healthcare have been limited to the patient-physician dyad. As a first step towards promoting an interprofessional approach to SDM in primary care, this article reports how an interprofessional and interdisciplinary group developed and achieved consensus on a new interprofessional SDM model. The key concepts within published reviews of SDM models and interprofessionalism were identified, analysed, and discussed by the group in order to reach consensus on the new interprofessional SDM (IP-SDM) model.

Interprofessional practice (IP)--ie, collaborative practice--involves interaction and knowledge-sharing between professionals from different disciplines in order to meet the needs of the patient. This approach to care is well suited to patients with pressure ulcers, whose complex and varying presentations require the monitoring and consultation of an IP team. A 44-year-old man with anoxic brain injury was admitted to a complex continuing care facility with 18 wounds, 17 of which were pressure ulcers.

BACKGROUND:

Quality and safety improvement programmes advance the standard of care delivered by health organisations but have been shown to be less effective than anticipated. Implementing improvement programmes require a greater understanding of the impact of the social context and strategies that engage staff.

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate factors that shaped the development of interprofessional improvement initiatives in a health organisation.

METHODS:

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21425916

Multidisciplinary fragmentation contributes to myriad medical errors and as many as 98,000 patient deaths per year. The Institute of Medicine has proposed steps to improve healthcare delivery, including providing more opportunities for interdisciplinary training. The authors describe the interprofessional education (IPE) program at Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) in Pomona, California. In 2007, 9 colleges at WesternU-including the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-undertook an IPE initiative that resulted in creation of a 3-phase program.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has a strong history of embracing staff empowerment and shared decision making. Shared governance for nursing was implemented in 1989; a separate allied health structure was created in 1999. The two operated in parallel with few occasions for interface, and with little collaboration. With the beginning of the medical center's efforts to pursue perfect patient care in 2002, there was a marked increase in the frequency of interprofessional initiatives and collaborations in the organization.

PubMed URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21425913