[An interprofessional or an interdisciplinary problem? Distinctions to develop an analytical scheme of interdisciplinarity based on the case of a long-term care hospital]

This communication distinguishes interdisciplinary problems from other neighbouring difficulties, such as difficulties related to work organization. The conceptual proximity between discipline and profession can in fact cause difficulties experienced in the interprofessionnal space to mistakenly incriminate interdisciplinarity. For the analyst, this proximity blurs his insight and, in effect, inhibits the development of adequate solutions to the encountered problem. Hence, this article, based on an ethnographic study of interdisciplinary relations in a small long-term care hospital, aims to alleviate the ambiguity surrounding this issue. In order to do so, this article will begin by recalling the parameters of the theoretical field of interdisciplinarity. Subsequently, the difficulties observed in the long-term care hospital's setting, as they were conceived in the light of interdisciplinarity theory, will be exposed. This article will notably highlight how the nursing staffs contribute to the maintenance of a philosophy of care favourable to the long term deployment of interdisciplinarity.

Prior conceptions of integration and coordination as modulators of an innovation's adoption: the case of a pilot project targeting the implementation of a services' integration device in France

Purpose

Context

Data sources

Case description

Conclusion

Discussion

Implementing an evidence-based integration model in France to maintain independence: Project and Research on Integration of Services to Maintain the Autonomy (PRISMA)

Introduction

The fragmentation of the French health and services system has a negative impact on the quality of the services offered because dependant community-dwelling older persons receive services from a mean of three interveners, and 25% of the most dependent ones perceive assistance from at least 6 interveners. In 2006, the Ministry of Health funded an experimentation of implantation of an evidence-based model of integration based on case management: PRISMA.

Aims and objective

An implementation evaluative research was associated with the experimentation undertaken by an international (France, Quebec) and multidisciplinary (medical doctors, sociologists, economists) group of research.

Methods

This evaluation is carried out continuously all along the implementation process. It is essentially based on research-action framework. A multi-case qualitative analysis is performed on three sites contrasted in regard of the health and services local organisation: rural, urban and megalopolitan.

Results

Initial implementation seems to be low during the first 18 months. First objective signs of integration after 12 months were the emergence of a coordination process on a strategic level, the adoption of a unique assessment tools by all the partners and the project of constituting a multi-professional team of case managers. Sociological and political identified barriers will be discussed.

Is there a way to measure implementation of integration in different countries? The case of the PRISMA implementation qualitative methodology

Introduction

The PRISMA implementation research has used an innovative tool: the penetration rate of integrated model in the system. The experimentation in France of the PRISMA adopts and adapts this methodology.

Aims and objective

This measurement relates to the functions of the 6 tools and mechanisms of the model: coordination boards, single entry point, case-management, single assessment instrument, individualised services plan and information system. In contrast with Quebec, no public policy in France incites to move towards this model of integration. In addition, in the French system the construction of coordination boards is complex because there is as much as ten supervision authorities and about fifteen organisation managers involved in each experimental site.

Methods of adaptation of the tool in France

The measurement was not only the absence, partial existence or existence of the 6 components but takes into account the appropriation process for each one, the administrative time and the new definition of thresholds to reach as compared to the model.

Results

This research tool presents two advantages. The measurement scale enables also the partners to appropriate the function of each model component and more precisely the global model of the integration. Actors do not feel evaluated but accompanied.

Les attentes des parents d'enfants d'âge préscolaire au regard des attitudes et des conduites éducatives des intervenants socio-éducatifs

Le discours officiel des divers réseaux canadiens et québécois de services à la petite enfance et à la famille s’inscrit, depuis près de vingt ans maintenant, dans une perspective écosystémique mettant en valeur le partenariat professionnel-famille. Dans cet article, nous présentons les résultats d’une enquête par questionnaire réalisée auprès d’un échantillon de 310 parents de jeunes enfants ayant bénéficié des services des professionnels des réseaux de la santé et des services sociaux, de l’éducation, des services de garde ainsi que de divers organismes communautaires. Après avoir défini les attentes parentales au regard des attitudes et des conduites socioéducatives des diverses catégories de professionnels, tenant compte des principaux facteurs qui les déterminent, nous conclurons en mettant en perspective les différents discours inférentiels qui qualifient actuellement ces attentes de façon externe.

Effects of ultraviolet light (315 nm), temperature and relative humidity on the degradation of polylactic acid plastic films

The influence of temperature (30, 45 and 60 degrees C) and relative humidity (RH) (30%, 50% and 100%) on the degradation of poly(l-lactic acid) (PLA) films were studied. In addition, the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light (315 nm) on the degradation of PLA films were also analyzed. Various analytical techniques were applied to observe changes in the properties of PLA polymer films. FTIR spectroscopy was used as semi-quantitative method to get information about the chemistry of the degradative process. The degradation rate of PLA was enhanced by increasing temperature and RH, factors responsible for a faster reduction of the weight-average molecular weight (M(W)), of the glass transition temperature (Tg) and of the percentage of elongation at break. Moreover, UV treatment accelerated these phenomena.