Resource Center

The individual Teamwork Observation and Feedback Tool (iTOFT) was devised by a consortium of seven universities in recognition of the need for a means of observing and giving feedback to individual learners undertaking an interprofessional teamwork task. It was developed through a literature review of the existing teamwork assessment tools, a discussion of accreditation standards for the health professions, Delphi consultation and field-testing with an emphasis on its feasibility and acceptability for formative assessment.

This is an article published in the International Journal of Nursing & Clinical Practices.  Online access is available through the provided link.

This article describes two strategies used to produce a more diverse RN workforce by increasing recruitment and retention efforts and supporting students entering nursing programs through successful matriculation and graduation. The recruitment program exposed 392 high school students to careers in nursing, with a subsequent enrollment of 21 students into nursing education programs.

The purpose of this article is to describe a collaborative project designed to recruit and retain students from underrepresented minorities and studnets from disadvantaged backgrounds into nursing education. The School of Nursing worked with the AHEC Program Office for on-campus health professions program enhancements and with the communtiy-based AHEC regional center to engage in high-school level programming.

The challenges facing health care are well known. They include an ageing population, increasing expectations, and shrinking budgets. GPs remain key in the provision of primary care in the current model and report that they are failing to cope with rising demand. Increasing concern that the 10-minute GP appointment is obsolete in the face of increasing comorbidity adds to these pressures.

Interprofessional learning (IPL) is valuable in preparing health care students to work collaboratively in teams, with patients’ needs at the core. Patient-centredness is the impetus for communication and collaboration in health care. Debate continues on when it is best to develop positive student attitudes towards these aspects of care. Should IPL commence early before attitudes to patients, professional stereotypes and identity are formed, or later for advanced learners with greater experience of their roles and responsibility in health care?

Much has been said about the evolving role of the medical librarian in recent years. Forces driving this evolution have included a challenging economic environment, dramatic changes in higher education and health care, emerging technologies, workflow and process changes to meet shifting constituent demands, and the need to keep the profession relevant. Budget cuts are forcing hospital libraries to provide new services with limited resources.

Problem: The morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference is a vital event that can affect medical education, quality improvement, and peer review in academic departments. Historically, M&M conferences have emphasized cases that highlight diagnostic uncertainty or complex management conundrums. In this report, the authors describe the development, pilot, and refinement of a systems-based M&M conference model that combines the educational and clinical missions of improving quality and patient safety in the University of Colorado Department of Medicine.

This informed reflection, from the intersection of health professions education and clinical practice, takes stock of the state of the field of interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice (CP) (together IPECP) by answering the following three questions: (1) As a field of study, where is IPECP? (2) As a research enterprise, what are the current analytical gaps? (3) Scientifically, what needs to be done going forward?

The value of interprofessional collaborative practice is increasingly recognized, so national competencies have been developed in the United States to facilitate the delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) within the academic curriculum. This report links the future of our health and education systems to the transformative promise of a “collaborative practice-ready health workforce.”