Resource Center

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.”

The purpose of this study was to explore potential baseline physical examination and demographic predictors of clinical outcomes in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. This study provides preliminary evidence supporting an association between certain baseline characteristics and nonsurgical clinical outcomes in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.

This article was co-authored by Joel Stevans, PhD, DC, a member of the University of Pittsburgh Nexus Innovation Network projects: 

As the United States population ages and chronic conditions increase, health care providers are faced with treating complex wounds. The American Diabetes Association reported that in 2012 9.3% of the US population had diabetes, 2.5 million patients developed pressure ulcers in US hospitals, and venous status affects 500,000 to 600,000 people in the US annually. Each chronic condition involves wound care and can require extensive treatments such as debridement, antimicrobial therapy, and multiple wound dressings.

It has been previously demonstrated that interactions within interprofessional teams are characterised by effective communication, shared decision-making, and knowledge sharing. This article outlines aspects of an action research study examining the emergence of these characteristics within change management teams made up of nurses, general practitioners, physiotherapists, care assistants, a health and safety officer, and a client at two residential care facilities for older people in Ireland.

Background

Specialised diabetes teams, specifically certified nurse and dietitian diabetes educator teams, are being integrated part-time into primary care to provide better care and support for Canadians living with diabetes.

Patient discharge is a key concern in hospitals, particularly in acute care, given the multifaceted and challenging nature of patients’ healthcare needs. Policies on discharge have identified the importance of interprofessional collaboration, yet research has described its limitations in this clinical context. This study aimed to extend our understanding of interprofessional interactions related to discharge in a general internal medicine setting by using sociological theories to illuminate the existence of, and interplay between, structural factors and microlevel practices.

Advocacy is acting for others. Health professions have a long history of acting for others and an equally long history of ethical debate and discernment about such action and its scope and limits. This entry will outline historical trends in how health professionals have understood the balance of their responsibilities between the individual patient and the broader community. There is also discussion of definitions and conceptions of advocacy and how advocacy has been incorporated into various ethical codes and charters of the different health professions.