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The Office of Interprofessional Education at the University of Toronto has sought students to conduct IPE research by offering summer studentships. This paper reports on one of these student research projects, which aimed to examine medical students' perceptions and experiences of IPE.

Significant investments are being made around the world to improve interprofessional collaboration, yet limits in our knowledge of this field restrict the ability of decision makers to base their decisions upon evidence. Clarity of the interprofessional field is blurred by a conceptual and semantic confusion that affects our understanding of key elements of education and practice activities, their interlinked relationship, and their effects on health or system outcomes.

The current conceptual problems related to IPE and IPC can be observed by the variety of terms employed to describe these interventions. Terms include “interprofessional learning”, “interdisciplinary collaboration”, “multiprofessional training”, and “transdisciplinary practice”.

BACKGROUND: Poor interprofessional collaboration (IPC) can negatively affect the delivery of health services and patient care. Interventions that address IPC problems have the potential to improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes.

General internal medicine (GIM) is a communicatively complex specialty because of its diverse patient population and the number and diversity of health care providers working on a medicine ward. Effective interprofessional communication in such information-intensive environments is critical to achieving optimal patient care. Few empirical studies have explored the ways in which health professionals exchange patient information and the implications of their chosen communication forms.

BACKGROUND: Intensive care units (ICUs) are recognized as stressful environments. However, the conditions in which stressors may affect health professionals' performance and well-being and the conditions that potentially lead to impaired performance and staff psychological distress are not well understood.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine healthcare professionals' perceptions regarding the factors that lead to stress responses and performance impairments during ICU medical crises.

DESIGN: A qualitative study in a university-affiliated ICU in Canada.

Research has suggested that interprofessional collaboration could improve patient outcomes in the intensive care unit (ICU). Maintaining optimal interprofessional interactions in a setting where unpredictable medical crises occur periodically is however challenging. Our study aimed to investigate the perceptions of ICU health care professionals regarding how acute medical crises affect their team interactions. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews of ICU nurses, staff physicians, and respiratory therapists.

AIM: This paper explores the impact of space and time on interprofessional teamwork in three primary health care centres and the implications for Canadian and other primary health care reform.

BACKGROUND: Patient care is a complex activity which demands that health and social care professionals work together in an effective manner. The evidence suggests, however, that these professionals do not collaborate well together. Interprofessional education (IPE) offers a possible way to improve collaboration and patient care.

BACKGROUND: Clinical placements have been traditionally offered on a profession specific basis, and as a result, we have a good understanding of salient issues related to their development and delivery. We know less about the planning and implementation of collaborative clinical placements. Aims: This paper presents key findings from a qualitative study that explored the collaborative processes connected to an interprofessional planning group who created and implemented a clinical placement for medical, nursing and allied health students.