Interprofessional education and collaborative practice policies and law: an international review and reflective questions

Interprofessional education in cardiothoracic surgery: a narrative review

Interprofessional education, an approach where healthcare professionals from various disciplines learn with, from, and about each other, is widely recognized as an important strategy for improving collaborative practice and patient outcomes. This narrative review explores the current state and future directions of interprofessional education in cardiothoracic surgery. We conducted a literature search using the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, focusing on English-language articles published after 2000. Our qualitative synthesis identified key themes related to interprofessional education interventions, outcomes, and challenges. The integration of interprofessional education in cardiothoracic surgery training programs varies across regions, with a common focus on teamwork and interpersonal communication. Simulation-based training has emerged as a leading modality for cultivating these skills in multidisciplinary settings, with studies showing improvements in team performance, crisis management, and patient safety. However, significant hurdles remain, including professional socialization, hierarchies, stereotypes, resistance to role expansion, and logistical constraints. Future efforts in this field should prioritize deeper curricular integration, continuous faculty development, strong leadership support, robust outcome evaluation, and sustained political and financial commitment. The integration of interprofessional education in cardiothoracic surgery offers considerable potential for enhancing patient care quality, but realizing this vision requires a multifaceted approach. This approach must address individual, organizational, and systemic factors to build an evidence-based framework for implementation.

Building organizational and strategic interprofessional collaboration and partnerships: a case study

Developing organizational strategic partnerships is important to advance initiatives such as research, training/education, and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) with a global perspective. Commitments to collaborative leadership, intentional partnership, coordination, and progress, thematically represent the series of critical decisions and actions collectively required to achieve strategic alliance success. The purpose of this paper is to describe the evidenced-informed framework and systematic processes involved in building successful strategic organizational and collaborative partnerships for InterprofessionalResearch.Global to expand and enhance opportunities for IPC on mutually beneficial initiatives. The conceptual model for effective collaborative partnerships by Butt et al. (2008) provided a framework for InterprofessionalResearch.Global to develop two strategic organizational partnerships consistent with its mission, vision, and goals to explore interprofessional research and policy gaps through global research partnerships, grow and sustain communities of practice, and mobilize evidence-informed interprofessional education and collaborative practice across multiple and diverse contexts. These organizational partnerships are defined by a Memorandum of Understanding with clear expectations and mechanisms of communication, defined priority areas and timelines for collaborative efforts, mutual understanding of the purposes of each relationship, and timeline and expectations for periodic evaluation.

Facilitators and barriers to interprofessional collaboration among health professionals in primary healthcare centers in Qatar: a qualitative exploration using the "Gears" model

BACKGROUND

The number of patients seeking medical care is increasing, necessitating more access to primary healthcare services. As several of these patients usually present with complex medical conditions, the need for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among health professionals in primary care is necessary. IPC is essential for facing the increasing and challenging healthcare demands. Therefore, the facilitators of and the barriers to IPC should be studied in the hope that the results will be used to promote such endeavors.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to explore the perspectives of different health professionals regarding the facilitators of and the barriers to IPC in the primary healthcare settings in Qatar.

METHODS

A qualitative study using focus groups was conducted within the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in Qatar. Several health professionals were invited to participate in the focus groups. The focus groups were uniprofessional for general practitioners (GPs), nurses, and dentists, while they were interprofessional for the other health professionals. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and validated by the research team. The data were analyzed by deductive thematic analysis using the "Gears" Conceptual Model as a coding framework.

RESULTS

Fourteen focus groups were conducted involving 58 participants (including 17 GPs, 12 nurses, 15 pharmacists, 3 dentists, and 11 allied health professionals) working in PHCC in Qatar. The findings revealed a spectrum of factors influencing IPC, categorized into four main domains: Macro, Meso, Micro, and individual levels, with each accompanied by relevant barriers and facilitators. Key challenges identified included a lack of communication skills, insufficient professional competencies, and power imbalances, among others. To address these challenges, recommendations were made to implement dedicated training sessions on IPC, reduce hierarchical barriers among different health professionals, and enhance the effectiveness of existing systems. Conversely, it was emphasized that projects and campaigns focused on IPC, alongside the development of enhanced communication skills and the presence of supportive leadership, as essential for facilitating effective IPC in PHCCs.

CONCLUSION

The interplay between the meso, macro, micro, and individual levels highlight the significance of a multifaceted approach to interventions, aiming to enhance the successes of IPC. While initiatives like interprofessional education training are underway, numerous challenges persist before achieving improved collaboration and more efficient integration of IPC in the PHCC setting.

Interprofessional Collaboration in Complex Patient Care Transition: A Qualitative Multi-Perspective Analysis

Healthcare professionals often feel challenged by complex patients and the associated care needs during care transition. Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is considered an effective approach in such situations. However, a fragmented healthcare system can limit IPC. This study explored experiences of Swiss healthcare professionals regarding complex patient care transition and the potential of IPC. Professionals from nursing, medicine, psychology, physiotherapy, dietetics and nutrition, social service, occupational therapy, and speech therapy were included. A qualitative between-method triangulation design was applied, with two focus group discussions and ten individual interviews. The combination of different data-collection methods allowed us to explore complex patient care transition and to systematically add perspectives of healthcare professionals from different care settings. Three main themes were identified: (1) Participants described their vision of an ideal complex patient care transition, i.e., the status they would like to see implemented; (2) participants reported challenges in complex patient care transition as experienced today; and (3) participants suggested ways to improve complex patient care transition by IPC. This study highlighted that healthcare professionals regarded IPC as an effective intervention to improve complex patient care transition. It emerged that sustainable implementation of IPC across care organizations is currently limited in Switzerland. In the absence of strong and direct promotion of IPC by the healthcare system, professionals in clinical practice can further promote IPC by finding hands-on solutions to overcome organizational boundaries.

Determining a common understanding of interprofessional competencies for pre-registration health professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Delphi study

There is growing awareness that factors such as the growing incidence of co-morbidity and increasing complexity of patient health needs cannot be addressed by health professionals practicing in isolation. Given this, there is an increasing emphasis on preparing students in health-related programs for effective interprofessional practice. Less clear, however, are the specific skills and clinical or learning opportunities necessary for students to develop effectiveness in interprofessional practice. These factors drove a team associated with a tertiary health education provider in Hamilton, New Zealand to transform traditional clinical student experiences in the form of an interprofessional student-assisted clinic. The clinic was intended, in part, to provide students with opportunities to learn and experience interprofessionalism in practice but was hampered by limited information available regarding the specific skill requirements necessary for students in New Zealand to learn in this context. In this Delphi study, we synthesize national expert opinion on student competency indicators necessary for effective interprofessional practice. The resultant set of indicators is presented and opportunities for application and further research discussed. The paper offers guidance to others seeking to innovate health curricula, develop novel service-oriented learning experiences for students, and foster interprofessional practice competence in the future health workforce.