Lesley Bainbridge

The overall goal of interprofessional education and collaborative practice is to provide health system users with improved health outcomes. Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) occurs when learners/practitioners, patients/clients/families and communities develop and maintain interprofessional working relationships that enable optimal health outcomes. Interprofessional education (IPE), which is the process of preparing people for collaborative practice, and IPC itself, are more and more frequently incorporated into health professional education and models of practice. For this reason, a clear understanding of the characteristics of the ideal collaborative practitioner is required to inform curriculum and professional development for interprofessional education, and enlighten professional practice for interprofessional collaboration.

CONTEXT: Patients as educators (teaching intimate physical examination) first appeared in the 1960s. Since then, rationales for the active involvement of patients as educators have been well articulated. There is great potential to promote the learning of patient-centred practice, interprofessional collaboration, community involvement, shared decision making and how to support self-care. METHODS: We reviewed and summarised the literature on active patient involvement in health professional education. RESULTS: A synthesis of the literature reveals increasing diversity in the ways in which patients are involved in education, but also the movement's weaknesses. Most initiatives are 'one-off' events and are reported as basic descriptions. There is little rigorous research or theory of practice or investigation of behavioural outcomes. The literature is scattered and uses terms (such as 'patient'!) that are contentious and confusing. CONCLUSIONS: We propose future directions for research and development, including a taxonomy to facilitate dialogue, an outline of a research strategy and reference to a comprehensive bibliography covering all health and human services.

Background and Purpose. Interprofessional collaboration in health care is now considered a high priority, as concerns about patient safety, health and human resources shortages, and effective and efficient care have reached epic proportions. Although there are many models for interprofessional education for collaborative, patient-centered care, there is little in the literature to describe competencies for an interprofessional collaborative practitioner. This article will describe an emerging Canadian competency framework for interprofessional collaboration that (1) considers previous descriptions of collaborative practice and (2) uses existing literature to support a model for describing competencies for collaborative practice. Model Description and Evaluation. In this emerging competency framework, 6 competency domains are described using a competency statement and a set of associated descriptors. The collaborative leadership, dealing with interprofessional conflict, team functioning, and role clarification domains intersect with all of the others, yet are distinct and require focused descriptions. While patient-centered care and communication also are domains unto themselves, these competencies are integral elements of the other domains and are integrated throughout the framework. In the background supporting all of the domains are 3 key themes: context of practice, level of complexity, and quality improvement. The emerging framework was reviewed by a wide group of stakeholders, including an external review. Future use of the framework will assist in further shaping it to meet the needs of educators, researchers, practitioners, regulators, and accreditors. Discussion and Conclusion. The competency framework has been designed as a practical tool for a number of stakeholder groups. In particular, physical therapy educators can use it as a basis for interprofessional education programs and activities that prepare collaborative practitioners for the future. The framework is flexible and can be used in simple or complex situations, in a variety of practice settings, as a guide for learning outcomes and evaluation or assessment of performance, and as a tool for developing entry-level curricula and continuing professional development. The strength of the framework will emerge as it evolves over time.

The College of Health Disciplines, at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has a long history of developing interprofessional learning opportunities for students and practitioners. Historically, many of the courses and programmes were developed because they intuitively made sense or because certain streams of funding were available at particular times. While each of them fit generally within our understanding of interprofessional education in the health and human service education programs, they were not systematically developed within an educational or theoretical framework. This paper discusses the model we have subsequently developed at the College for conceptualizing the various types of interprofessional experiences offered at UBC. It has been developed so that we can offer the broadest range of courses and most effective learning experiences for our students. Our model is based on the premise that there are optimal learning times for health and human services students (and practitioners) depending upon their stage of development as professionals in their respective disciplines and their readiness to learn and develop new perspectives on professional interaction.

BACKGROUND: Community service-learning (CSL) has been proposed as one way to enrich medical and dental students' sense of social responsibility toward people who are marginalized in society. AIM: We developed and implemented a new CSL option in the integrated medical/dental curriculum and assessed its educational impact. METHODS: Focus groups, individual open-ended interviews, and a survey were used to assess dental students', faculty tutors' and community partners' experiences with CSL. RESULTS: CSL enabled a deeper appreciation for the vulnerabilities that people who are marginalized experience; students gained a greater insight into the social determinants of health and the related importance of community engagement; and they developed useful skills in health promotion project planning, implementation and evaluation. Community partners and faculty tutors indicated that equal partnership, greater collaboration, and a participatory approach to course development are essential to sustainability in CSL. CONCLUSIONS: CSL can play an important role in nurturing a purposeful sense of social responsibility among future practitioners. Our study enabled the implementation of an innovative longitudinal course (professionalism and community service) in all 4 years of the dental curriculum.