A framework for interprofessional team collaboration in a hospital setting: Advancing team competencies and behaviours.

Healthcare teams that practice collaboratively enhance the delivery of person-centred care and improve patient and systems outcomes. Many organizations have adopted existing interprofessional frameworks that define the competencies of individual health professionals that are required to meet practice standards and advance interprofessional goals. However, to support the collective efforts of team members to deliver optimal care within complex hospital settings, healthcare organizations may benefit from adopting team-based competencies for interprofessional collaboration. The Sunnybrook framework for interprofessional team collaboration was intentionally created as a set of collective team competencies. The framework was developed using a comprehensive literature search and consensus building by a multi-stakeholder working group and supported by a broad consultation process that included patient representation, organizational development and leadership, and human resources. The six core competencies are actionable and include associated team behaviours that can be easily referenced by teams and widely implemented across the hospital.

Translating interprofessional collaboration competencies to an international research team.

INTRODUCTION: While there has been strong emphasis on enhancing interprofessional education and interprofessional care in the published literature, there is relatively little literature focused on advancing interprofessional research. In extrapolating from the current frameworks of interprofessional collaboration (IPC), it becomes clear that the core competencies of IPC are transferable to research teams. The aim of this paper is to present our experience of an international research team framed within core competencies for IPC. METHODS: A simplified narrative inquiry approach was used to share the experience of an international research team framed within six core competencies of IPC. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: By way of our international research collaboration, we demonstrate the translation of key core competencies for IPC. We share key learnings and mitigation strategies for the successful outcomes of the research team. CONCLUSION: To embark on a successful international research collaboration requires integrating IPC core competencies across the entire research continuum. In addition to the core competencies of collaboration, enablers to success also include digital collaborative forums, existing professional relationships and research projects that offer global meaning and value.

Widening the Lens on Needs Assessment: Identifying Profession-Specific and Interprofessional Learning Needs Across Professions in an Academic Health Sciences Institution.

Traditionally, education planning for the health professions is conducted in a reactive manner, with profession-specific learning opportunities being organized in response to educational issues arising or based upon speaker availability. Moreover, limited information exists to guide organizations on systematic approaches to planning and implementing large-scale interprofessional learning programs, despite clear evidence for benefits of team-based learning in the workplace. Our organizational approach to the learning needs assessment process was in need of updating to enhance pedagogical rigor and to proactively inform ongoing education planning with respect to both profession-specific and interprofessional learning needs. To address this, a novel mixed methods approach integrated within a quality improvement framework was developed to elicit participant engagement. The approach included use of a questionnaire, focus groups, and key stakeholder interviews. Ranking of learning priorities of respondents indicated that highest priority was placed on learning needs related to profession-specific clinical and technical skills. A number of distinct inter¬professional learning needs were identified through this novel needs assessment process, including a selection of clinical topics that were deemed to be well-suited for interprofessional learning forums. Utilization of a multi-method interprofessional approach to needs assessment thus enabled elicitation of more comprehensive results than could have been achieved through a traditional profession-specific needs assessment, and hence changing our ongoing approach to education planning at our organization.

Best practices on team communication: interprofessional practice in oncology.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Good communication is the cornerstone of interprofessional care teams providing optimized quality patient care. Over the last decade, advances in technology have provided tools to improve communication; however, opportunities still exist for innovation and implementation. RECENT FINDINGS: The literature suggests that interprofessional education and assessment of team communication are fundamental in supporting collaborative care. The literature favours an interactive, team-based approach (e.g. simulation) to learning about communication, in which communication competencies and behaviours are practiced explicitly in an open, feedback-rich environment. SUMMARY: Key elements of excellence in communication are embedded in three priority recommendations: first, the team must adopt a practice strategy that leverages accessible and timely communication second, the team must be open to initial and ongoing training within the domain of 'effective communication' third, communication must be the cornerstone to producing a high-performing team that will provide the best care possible.