Resource Center

Collaboration among different healthcare professionals consists of effective teamwork and communication that involves patients and families, and is based on a clear understanding of each others’ roles and responsibilities on the healthcare team, and a deep appreciation for the value that all professions bring to patient care. Yet it is still unclear how this collaboration works to influence patient health and wellness, especially for disadvantaged urban populations. This study sought to elucidate this phenomenon using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

In 2010, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) launched a program to transform its primary care system into a team-based care model in which all Veterans were assigned to Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs) in more than 900 primary care clinics nationwide. For those VA medical centers with health professions education programs, this transformation offers the additional challenge of integrating clinical trainees into the PACT environment.

This descriptive research used social network analysis to explore the influence of relationships and communication among hospital nursing (RN, LPN, CNA) and discharge planning staff on adherence to evidence-based practices (EBP) for reducing preventable hospital readmissions. Although previous studies have shown that nurses are a valued source of research information for each other, there have been few studies concerning the role that staff relationships and communication play in adherence to evidence-based practice.

The World Health Organization defines the social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.” These forces and systems include economic policies, development agendas, cultural and social norms, social policies, and political systems.

Interprofessional collaboration is integral to effective patient care in today's healthcare system. Early exposure to other professions in a hands-on manner during education can be helpful for future practice. However, opportunities for interprofessional education are typically faculty driven and remain limited. Thirty-eight students from different health professions at the University of British Columbia worked collaboratively to promote cardiovascular risk reduction in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

As in previous editions, this year’s Annual Review of the Evidence provides a summary of PCMH cost and utilization results from peer-reviewed studies, state government evaluations, industry reports, and new this year, independent federal program evaluations published between October 2014 and November 2015. It reviews the recent evidence for PCMH and advanced primary care in light of new and long-awaited developments in health system payment reform including Medicare’s transition to value-based payments and passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

Click here to access the report. 

This report highlights four areas of National Center progress during Year Three. Because of the sheer volume of National Center activity, we have chosen our most important achievements – showing where we are making a significant difference in the national conversation about health care transformation.

Highlights of Year Three include: 

Over the past half century, there have been ebbs and flows of interest in linking what is now called interprofessional education (IPE) with interprofessional collaboration and team-based care. Whereas considerable research has focused on student learning, only recently have researchers begun to look beyond the classroom and beyond learning outcomes for the impact of IPE on such issues as patient safety, patient and provider satisfaction, quality of care, health promotion, population health, and the cost of care.

Improved inclusion of women’s health education among a growing cadre of health professionals is a key task for the coming decade. Today, experts in the field of women’s health define the discipline as a product of cultural, social, and psychological factors in addition to biology (Verdonk, Benschop, de Haes, & Lagro-Janssen, 2009). Independent approaches to improve women’s health curricula can promote advances in the field. However, women’s health education would also benefit from a collaborative effort to create a broader agenda for women’s health curricula.