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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.

AIM: This paper is a report of a study to examine nursing emotion work and interprofessional collaboration in order to understand and improve collaborative nursing practice.

This paper describes the “Catalyzing and Sustaining Communities of collaboration around interprofessional care” project, funded by Canadian Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, to encourage health care workers in Ontario to work collaboratively to improve job satisfaction, achieve efficiencies within the health care system and enhance the delivery of patient care.

An abundance of evidence suggests that communication in interprofessional healthcare teams is a complex endeavour. Even relatively simple communication processes involving information work - the gathering, storage, retrieval and discussion of patient information - may be fraught with pitfalls, and yet teams manage to conduct their daily information work, often with a high degree of effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: The literature on facilitation of interprofessional learning (IPL) tends to discuss its importance rather than providing empirical accounts focused on understanding its nature and the factors that might make it effective.

AIM: This study aims to provide an initial insight into facilitators' experiences of facilitation, and begin to identify some of the key elements that contribute to successful facilitation of IPL.