Journal of interprofessional care
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"Seamless Care" was one of 21 grants awarded by Health Canada to inform policymakers of the effectiveness of interprofessional education in promoting collaborative patient-centred practice among health professionals. The "Seamless Care" model of interprofessional education was designed with input from three Faculties at Dalhousie University (Medicine, Dentistry and Health Professions). The design was grounded in relevant learning theories--Social Cognitive Theory, Self-efficacy, Situated Learning theory and Constructivism. ⋯ Fourteen student teams, each including one student from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and dental hygiene, learned with, from and about each other while they were mentored in the collaborative care of patients transitioning from acute care to the community. Student teams providing collaborative care assisted patients experiencing a chronic illness to become more active in managing their health through development of self-management and decision-making skills. This paper describes the Seamless Care model of interprofessional education and discusses the theoretical underpinnings of this experiential model of interprofessional education designed to extend classroom-based interprofessional education to the clinical setting.
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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. ⋯ Post-crisis team dispersion left the nurses with questions and emotions not expressed by other team members. Nurses believed that systematic interprofessional feedback sessions held immediately after a crisis could address some of their needs. Further research is needed to establish the possible benefits of strategies addressing ICU health care professionals' specific needs for interprofessional feedback after a medical crisis.
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Interprofessional education (IPE) involves learning, and learning requires reflection. Educators need to "reflect more on reflection" if they are to be effective teachers in ensuring the learning outcomes essential for teamwork and interprofessional practice (IPP), including incorporating both theory and practice into the development of educational interventions. ⋯ Actual samples from student journals and assignments provide examples of the impacts of using these methods on participant reflection and learning. Finally, implications for an expanded understanding and application of reflection for IPE will be discussed, and recommendations made for educational practice and research in this area.
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While collaborative, team-based care has the potential to improve medication use and reduce adverse drug events and cost, less attention is paid to understanding the processes of well functioning teams. This paper presents the findings from key informant interviews and reflective journaling from pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners participating in a multicentre, controlled clinical trial of team-based pharmacist care in hospitalized medical patients. A phenomenological approach guided the data analysis and content analysis was the primary tool for unitizing, categorizing and identifying emerging themes. ⋯ From the perspective of the participating pharmacists, nurse practitioners and physicians, the integration of pharmacists into the teams was felt to have facilitated positive patient outcomes by improving team drug-therapy decision-making, continuity of care and patient safety. Additionally, the study increased the awareness of all team members' potential roles so that pharmacists, nurses and physicians could play a part in and benefit from working together as a team. Focussed attention on how practice is structured, team process and ongoing support would enable successful implementation of team-based care in a larger context. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00351676).
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Simulated learning and interprofessional education (IPE) are increasingly becoming more prevalent in health care curriculum. As the focus shifts to patient-centred care, health professionals will need to learn with, from and about one another in real-life settings in order to facilitate teamwork and collaboration. ⋯ This paper offers a conceptual analysis of the salient issues related to IPE and medical simulation. In addition, the paper argues for the integration of simulation into IPE in order to develop innovative approaches for the delivery of education and improved clinical practice that may benefit students and all members of the health care team.