Facilitator training program: The Université Laval Interprofessional Initiative

Successful implementation of interprofessional education: A pedagogical design perspective

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is crucial within healthcare teams that must provide safe and quality care to their patients. Competent professionals in this area offer better care and contribute to a medical culture where IPC and teamwork are valued. To become competent, they must be adequately trained. Unfortunately, the literature describes that collaboration training is uneven across professions. Interprofessional education (IPE) could fill this educational gap but remains challenging to implement. This article aims to present ten clear and concise considerations to implementing IPE initiatives successfully, following a well-described pedagogical designing process. After reading, the clinician-educator will be informed of the newest evidence in IPE as well as the common pitfalls to avoid. From the starting point of a recent synthesis article on IPE, several additional syntheses, analyses, and recommendations articles were consulted and synthesized. From that, the findings are organized according to the "ADDIE" model, a flexible methodology used in pedagogical design through iterative cycles in context. The phases of "ADDIE" are analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. According to these phases, the considerations will be presented to allow the reader to apply them "step by step" in their educational planning process. Ten considerations are presented, from the needs analysis, stakeholders and Faculty involvement, composition of the design team, selection of students and types of learning activity, the role of reflexivity, training of facilitators, supervision, and the continuous improvement process. Taken together, these will contribute to highlighting the essential nature of training in collaboration in modern professionalizing programs.

Insights from healthcare academics on facilitating interprofessional education activities

Facilitators are of paramount importance to the success of interprofessional education (IPE) activities; hence, it is crucial to explore their perspectives and experiences in delivering IPE in Qatar. Using an exploratory case study approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted, in 2018, among faculty members, who had facilitated at least one IPE activity in Qatar, from healthcare professional education programs at Qatar University Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar, the University of Calgary in Qatar, and the College of North Atlantic. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic content analysis was implemented. Twenty-one interviews were conducted with the following professions represented: medicine (n = 6), pharmacy (n = 5), nursing (n = 4), biomedical science (n = 3), respiratory theory (n = 2) and public health (n = 1). Four main themes emerged from the interviews: drivers to facilitator involvement that included interest and commitment to IPE and awareness of collaborative practice benefits; facilitator participation which was based on facilitator attributes and preparedness and readiness for IPE facilitation; the organizational support in terms of dedicated structure for IPE and IPE design and delivery and; student participation in terms of group dynamics and student engagement. Some key recommendations include having a dedicated unit for IPE, scheduling protected time for IPE, and organizing facilitators' training and debriefing workshops. The facilitators valued and appreciated IPE in preparing students for future collaborative practice. These findings can inform the development of quality and sustainable IPE activities in the future.

'Bumping along': a qualitative metasynthesis of challenges to interprofessional placements

CONTEXT

Interprofessional practice is required to manage complex health care needs globally. It is well established that interprofessional placements (IPP) prepare students to work collaboratively, yet IPP implementation remains limited and disjointed.

OBJECTIVES

This review synthesised student, educator and service user perspectives in order to better understand challenges of IPP and provide recommendations for sustainable IPP implementation.

METHODS

A systematic metasynthesis of qualitative literature sourced from databases including CINAHL, Embase and PsycINFO was completed. Studies that incorporated student, educator and/or service user perspectives on IPP experiences were included. We focused specifically on factors limiting implementation of IPP. The presage-process-product (3P) theory provided the theoretical framework for inductive synthesis of 41 empirical studies. A confidence rating for findings was formulated using CERQual (confidence in evidence from reviews of qualitative research).

RESULTS

We developed three themes, which represent key challenges to IPP becoming embedded in placement culture: (i) thin theoretical foundations underpinned IPP, limiting understanding of the learning processes involved; (ii) implementation relied heavily on individual champions, which curtails investment and sustainability when personnel change, and (iii) students, educators and service users were unsure of the function of IPP and their respective roles, leading to uncertainty along with some negative perceptions of this placement approach.

CONCLUSIONS

In line with the 3P theoretical framework, IPP would benefit from explicit connections with educational and change management theories during presage stage IPP requires coordinated leadership and resource investment, and during product stage clear integration of interprofessional learning outcomes in curricula is advised. Addressing the identified challenges across the stages of IPP will support further development of IPP, firmly establishing this approach within placement culture. IPP can them make a significant contribution to the development of a collaborative practice-ready workforce. This in turn will enhance service user outcomes and safety.

Online interprofessional education facilitation: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION

The use of online media to deliver interprofessional education (IPE) is becoming more prevalent across health professions education settings. Facilitation of IPE activities is known to be critical to the effective delivery of IPE, however, specifics about the nature of online IPE facilitation remains unclear.

AIM

To explore the health professions education literature to understand the extent, range and nature of research on online IPE facilitation.

METHODS

Scoping review methodology was used to guide a search of four electronic databases for relevant papers. Of the 2095 abstracts initially identified, after screening of both abstracts and full-text papers, 10 studies were selected for inclusion in this review. Following abstraction of key information from each study, a thematic analysis was undertaken.

RESULTS

Three key themes emerged to describe the nature of the IPE facilitation literature: (1) types of online IPE facilitation contributions, (2) the experience of online IPE facilitation and (3) personal outcomes of online IPE facilitation. These IPE facilitation themes were particularly focused on facilitation of interprofessional student teams on an asynchronous basis.

DISCUSSION

While the included studies provide some insight into the nature of online IPE facilitation, future research is needed to better understand facilitator contributions, and the facilitation experience and associated outcomes, both relating to synchronous and asynchronous online environments.