Interprofessional Collaboration In Health Care Research Articles

Interprofessional Collaboration amongst Healthcare Workers of a Tertiary Hospital in North-Eastern Nigeria.

Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare is important to optimise healthcare delivery. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on the topic in Nigeria, especially in the North. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of interprofessional collaboration, enablers and barriers amongst healthcare workers. Data were collected using a five-domain modified Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale questionnaire, with a Likert scale of 1-5. The ideal mean score was ≤2 for the barriers domain and ≥4 for the other domains. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Two hundred and sixty-six participants responded to the questionnaire. Male and female respondents were 131 (49.2%) each. Half of the respondents were 31 to 40 years old. One hundred and thirty-six (51.1%) of the respondents were nurses, and 48 (18.0%) were doctors. The modal working experience was 6-11 years (41.4%), and 117 (44.0%) respondents had at least a bachelor's degree. The mean scores for the domains were 4.1032 for partnership, 3.2383 for cooperation, 3.6309 for coordination, 4.2844 for enablers and 3.7902 for barriers. There was adequate level of partnership and enablers amongst the healthcare workers but insufficient cooperation and coordination and high level of barriers. Staff training on cooperation, coordination and identified barriers is necessary to improve interprofessional collaboration in the hospital.

Cost-effectiveness in an interprofessional training ward within a university department for internal medicine: a monocentric open-label controlled study of the A-STAR Regensburg.

Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare involves diverse professionals working together to address complex patient needs. Interprofessional training wards offer workplace-based interprofessional education in real healthcare settings, fostering collaborative learning among students. While their educational value is widely recognized, debates persist regarding their cost-effectiveness due to limited research. This study assesses the cost efficiency of the interprofessional training ward Regensburg (A-STAR) within the Department of Internal Medicine I at the University Hospital Regensburg, compared to conventional wards. From October 2019 to December 2022, 7,244 patient cases were assigned to A-STAR or conventional wards by case managers, with a comprehensive analysis of all associated revenues and costs. A-STAR treated 1,482 patients, whereas conventional wards treated 5,752 patients, with more males and younger patients at A-STAR. A-STAR achieved higher profit per case (€1,508.74) attributed to increased revenues and reduced material costs. It generated an average of €1,366.54 more Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) revenue per case annually than conventional wards, due to greater medical complexity reflected in a higher case-mix index (CMI: 2.4 vs. 2.2). The increased case complexity led to longer patient stays (9.0 vs. 8.1 days) and fewer cases treated annually at A-STAR (27.4 cases/year vs. 37.8 cases/year). The higher CMI did not result in a higher proportion of patients requiring isolation. A-STAR exhibited a higher capacity utilization rate (87.1% vs. 83.9%). Personnel costs per case at A-STAR were initially elevated due to enhanced observation by the senior physician but were gradually mitigated by expanding A-STAR's bed capacity. Material costs were consistently lower on a per-case basis at A-STAR (€1512.02 vs. €1577.12), particularly in terms of medication expenses, indicating more resource-efficient operations. From the A-STAR graduates, 18 individuals were recruited for permanent positions as doctors or nurses over 2 years. A-STAR demonstrates economic efficiency and stability even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The substantial personnel acquisition is likely influenced by high levels of satisfaction with education and work and is economically relevant in medical staff shortages. These findings provide a compelling rationale for the broader implementation of interprofessional training wards, establishing them as vital platforms for nurturing future professionals.

INTERVZP - Interprofessional collaboration in Advance Care Planning: examining support needs across disciplines and settings

Background: Although advance care planning (ACP) can improve goal-oriented and goal-concordant care, it requires substantial interprofessional collaboration to ensure up-to-date information from patients and families is passed along across the care trajectory of the patient. The often-complex care trajectories of patients who would benefit most from ACP, as well as our fragmented care systems is hindering this.
 Aim: We aimed to explore how to better support a variety of professionals across care levels to improve advance care planning in their settings by exploring barriers related to ACP specifically, their support needs as well as potential strategies for improvement.
 Methods: We have carried out a targeted literature review in PubMed searching academic literature on advance care planning, chronic care or palliative care and interprofessional/multidisciplinary collaboration (and education); expert interviews with educators and trainers in interprofessional collaboration in healthcare (ie medicine, nursing, social work, obstetrics); and 3 semi-structured stakeholder workshops with a variety of professionals working in nursing homes, hospitals, and the home setting. Project progress and deliverables were safeguarded by an advisory group comprising users and stakeholders from various professional, policy, and umbrella organizations.
 Results: Fifteen published studies were included; 12 experts and 20 professionals participated. Various factors were found to hinder interprofessional collaboration in ACP: personal factors (eg. discipline: support staff, as opposed to registered nursing staff report higher, needs related to integration on the interdisciplinary team), interprofessional (eg. lack of clarity and appreciation of other’s roles), organizational (eg. no one taking the lead), interorganizational (eg. team fluidity/temporary teams) and system factors (eg. no unified electronic system). We formulated potential learning objectives that were triangulated with and complementary to existing general frameworks in interprofessional education (ie. IPEC, 5 bouwstenen IPSIG, Canmeds, EIPEN). We have visualized the patient journey of three case studies (in a hospital, nursing home and home setting) to graphically demonstrate how integrated care transitions between professionals, organizations and care levels can be improved and how (comprising tips and trigger questions that might stimulate professionals to share and receive the relevant information with and from others). 
 Next steps: Learning objectives can be easily integrated into existing education for health and social care professionals and is informative for subsequent interprofessional training development. Tools are currently being developed to support educators in doing this.

Perceptions and experiences of primary healthcare providers toward interprofessional collaboration in chronic disease management in Hue, Vietnam

ABSTRACT In Vietnam, each primary care community health center (CHC) consists of a multi-professional team with six disciplines, including a physician, assistant physician, nurse, pharmacist, midwife, and Vietnamese traditional physician, who are able to meet the majority of patient’s needs at the primary care level. How they collaborate, especially in chronic disease management (CDM), is still limited described in the literature. This study aims to gain insight into the perceptions and the experiences of primary health care providers (PHCPs) toward interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in CDM in CHCs in (Hue) Vietnam. A qualitative study of descriptive phenomenology was performed using two focus groups and 15 semi-structured interviews with PHCPs from six professions relevant to CDM in CHCs. The data were analyzed using NVivo 12.0 with a thematic analysis method by a multiprofessional research team. From the analysis, the data were classified into three main themes: “lack of collaborative practice,” “knowledge,” and “facilitators and barriers to IPC.” This study provided evidence of the awareness that actual collaboration in daily care is fragmentarily organized and that PHCPs try to finish their tasks within their profession. PHCPs work multiprofessionally and lack shared decision-making in patient-centered care. There is a need to develop an interprofessional education program and training to address these deficiencies in the Vietnamese context to improve interprofessional collaboration in health care.

The Development and Evaluation of the Interprofessional Education Facilitation Program for Health Professionals Using the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) Model of Instructional Design.

Background It is important to learn interprofessional education (IPE) facilitation skills to promote interprofessional collaboration in healthcare. Nonetheless, to date, only a handful of IPE facilitation programs have been developed through research. Objective The objective of this study was to create an IPE facilitation program for healthcare professionals who wanted to promote interprofessional collaboration in their organizations based on the tenets of instructional design and evaluate its effectiveness. Methods This study's methodology was a mixed method based on relative subjectivism. We developed a two-day IPE facilitation program to learn IPE facilitation skills and promote interprofessional collaboration in the participants' own organizations. The program was developed based on the instructional design principles of the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model, measuring the participants' Interprofessional Facilitation Scale (IPFS) scores at three time points: before the first day, after the second day, and approximately one year after the course was completed. A one-way analysis of variance test was used to compare IPFS means at the three time points, and open-ended statements were qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Twelve healthcare providers (four physicians, two pharmacists, one nurse, one rehabilitation worker, one medical social worker, one clinical psychologist, one medical secretary, and one other) participated in the completed IPE facilitation program. Their IPFS scores increased significantly from 17.4 ± 16.1 before the program to 38.1 ± 9.4 after the program and remained at 35.1 ± 11.7 for one year (p= 0.008). In addition, qualitative analysis suggested that the knowledge and skills learned in the program could be applied in the participants'workplaces, which helped them maintain their IPE facilitation skills. Conclusion We developed a two-day IPE facilitation program based on the ARCS instructional design model, and the participants' IPE facilitation skills scores increased and were maintained one year later.

Overcoming Barriers in Nurse-Pharmacist Collaborations on Wards - Qualitative Expert Interviews with Nurses and Pharmacists.

Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare is an essential element in promoting patient safety. However, little research is available on the collaboration between nurses and pharmacists. To optimize processes, mutual understanding is needed, which can be gained by examining the perspectives of those collaborating professional groups. We aimed to identify barriers to the interprofessional collaboration of nurses and pharmacists as well as preconditions and solution strategies to devise approaches for optimizing teamwork in inpatient settings. We recruited pairs of collaborating nurses and pharmacists from different hospitals in German-speaking countries and conducted qualitative expert interviews by phone with each of them individually. Transcribed interviews were assessed using qualitative content analysis. We conducted 12 interviews each with the collaborating nurses and pharmacists. The most frequently mentioned barriers to optimal collaboration were "skepticism due to perception as controller" (reported mainly by pharmacists), "organizational implementation", and "limited (possibilities of) presence" (reported by both professional groups). A solution strategy proposed to overcome such barriers was "explaining added value". This added value was found in "clinical-pharmaceutical activities as complement by additional perspective" and "reducing workload in tasks distant from the patient". Nurses, pharmacists and hospital management should recognize the added value of intensifying their collaboration regarding patient-related services. A combination of logistical and clinical-pharmaceutical activities should be established at the level of drug application since interviewees endorsed collaboration. A stepwise process must be anticipated to address existing barriers, including some redefinition of professional roles.

2020 ANCC Pathway Award® winner.

2020 ANCC Pathway Award® winner.

A Systems Study on Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare

This study aims to translate and adapt the Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale II (AITCS-II) cross-culturally for effective and systemic use in Japan, to describe floor and ceiling values, and to examine in terms of such criteria as reliability and face and content validity. The AITCS-II was translated from English into Japanese to develop the Japanese version of the Assessment of Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale II (hereinafter referred to AITCS-II-J). Then, cross-sectional and cross-professional data analyses were carried out to seek evidence of construct validity. Analysis demonstrated good content and face validity. With a Cronbach's alpha coefficient greater than 0.9 (r varied from 0.912 to 0.940), the AITCS-II-J exhibited excellent internal consistency. The AITCS-II-J showed evidence of acceptable validity and reliability; therefore, this measurement system will be useful for informing the enhancement of interprofessional team collaboration within the Japanese acute healthcare context.

Training in Interprofessional Learning and Collaboration: An Evaluation of the Interprofessional Education Program in the Scale-up Phase in Antwerp (Belgium).

BackgroundCurricula are reviewed and adapted in response to a perceived need to improve interprofessional collaboration for the benefit of patient care. In 2005, the module Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare (IPCIHC) was developed by the Antwerp University Association (AUHA). The program was based upon a concept of five steps to IPCIHC. This educational module aims to help graduates obtain the competence of interprofessional collaborators in health care.MethodsOver a span of 15 years, the IPCIHC module is evaluated annually by students and provided with feedback by the tutors and steering committee. Data up to 2014 were supplemented with data up to 2019. For the students the same evaluative one-group, post-test design was used to gather data using a structured questionnaire. The tutors’ and students’ feedback was thematically analyzed.ResultsBased upon the results and the contextual changing needs, the program was adjusted. Between 2005 and 2019, a total of 8616 evaluations were received (response rate: 78%). Eighty percent of the respondents indicated through the evaluations that they were convinced of the positive effect of the IPCIHC module on their interprofessional development. Over the years, two more disciplines enrolled into this program and also education programs form the Netherlands.ConclusionsAfter 15 years, positive outcomes are showed, and future health professionals have a better understanding of interprofessional learning. Gathering feedback and annually evaluation helped to provide a targeted interprofessional program addressing contextual changes. The challenge remains to keep on educating future healthcare providers in interprofessional collaboration in order to achieve an increase in observable interprofessional behaviour towards other professional groups.

A Swiss Health Care Professionals' Perspective on the Meaning of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care of People with MS-A Focus Group Study.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system mainly of adults ranging from 20 to 45 years of age. The risk of developing MS is 50% higher in women than in men. Most people with MS (PwMS) experience a spectrum of symptoms such as spasticity, continence dysfunctions, fatigue, or neurobehavioral manifestations. Due to the complexity of MS and the variety of patient-centered needs, a comprehensive approach of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) of multiple health care professionals (HCP) is necessary. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the meaning of IPC in the comprehensive care of PwMS from a HCP perspective. Focus groups (FG) with HCP were conducted, recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The sample contained HCP from three MS clinics in different phases of care and rehabilitation. Four main categories emerged: (a) experience with IPC, (b) relevant aspects for IPC in patients’ treatment, (c) differences in in- and outpatient settings, and (d) influence of patient perspective. IPC plays a crucial role in HCP perspective when treating PwMS, which can benefit from an IPC therapeutic approach because HCP work together in a patient-centered way. The inpatient setting of HCP strongly supports the implementation of IPC. This prerequisite does not exist in outpatient settings.

An Integrative Review of Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care: Building the Case for University Support and Resources and Faculty Engagement.

Background: In 2010, the World Health Organization issued a clarion call for action on interprofessional education and collaboration. This call came forty years after the concept of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) was introduced. Aim: To conduct an integrative review of interprofessional collaboration in health care education in order to evaluate evidence and build the case for university support and resources and faculty engagement, and propose evidence-based implications and recommendations. Search Strategy: A literature search was conducted by an interprofessional faculty from a college of nursing and health sciences. Databases searched included CINAHL, Medline, Eric, Pubmed, Psych Info Lit., and Google Scholar. Keywords were interdisciplinary, interprofessional, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, health care team, teamwork, and collaboration. Inclusion criteria were articles that were in the English language, and published between 1995 and 2019. Review Methods: Thirteen interprofessional team members searched assigned databases. Based on key words and inclusion criteria, over 216,885 articles were identified. After removing duplicates, educational studies, available as full text were reviewed based on titles, and abstracts. Thirty-two articles were further evaluated utilizing the Sirriyeh, Lawton, Gardner, and Armitage (2012) review system. Faculty agreed that an inclusion score of 20 or more would determine an article’s inclusion for the final review. Eighteen articles met the inclusion score and the data was reduced and analyzed using the Donabedian Model to determine the structure, processes, and outcomes of IPC in health care education. Results: Structure included national and international institutions of higher education and focused primarily on undergraduate and graduate health care students’ experiences. The IPC processes included curricular, course, and clinical initiatives, and transactional and interpersonal processes. Outcomes were positive changes in faculty and health care students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding IPC, as well as challenges related to structure, processes, and outcomes which need to be addressed. Implications/Recommendations/Conclusions: The creation of a culture of interprofessional collaboration requires a simultaneous “top–down” and “bottom–up” approach with commitment by the university administration and faculty. A university Interprofessional Strategic Plan is important to guide the vision, mission, goals, and strategies to promote and reward IPC and encourage faculty champions. University support and resources are critical to advance curricular, course, and clinical initiatives. Grassroots efforts of faculty to collaborate with colleagues outside of their own disciplines are acknowledged, encouraged, and established as a normative expectation. Challenges to interprofessional collaboration are openly addressed and solutions proposed through the best thinking of the university administration and faculty. IPC in health care education is the clarion call globally to improve health care.

Leadership characteristics for interprofessional collaboration in China.

To explore the perceptions of health professionals and educators regarding the characteristics of leadership that they believed were required for successful interprofessional education and interprofessional collaboration initiatives in China. Leadership is a key competency in the successful implementation of any collaborative initiative in healthcare. However, there are few studies about leadership characteristics how these facilitate interprofessional collaboration in health care, especially in China. Data for this secondary analysis came from a qualitative study of Interprofessional Team Development in China. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze fifteen semi-structured interviews from the original study. The three leadership characteristics extracted that facilitated interprofessional collaboration were: 1) serving as a role model of Junzi (according to Confucianism the idea person); 2) initiating and maintaining collaboration; and 3) showing benevolence to all team members during interprofessional collaboration. One overarching category that surfaced throughout the interviews was that leaders who behaved in ways congruent with typical Chinese cultural expectations for leadership would be most effective. This study describes the characteristics of leadership for interprofessional collaboration, providing directions for training and cultivation of healthcare professionals and workers so that they are better prepared for and work more effectively in interprofessional collaborative practice.

Revealing tacit knowledge used by experienced health professionals for interprofessional collaboration

ABSTRACT With the current interest in interprofessional collaboration in health care as a response to ever-increasing complexity of health issues and scarcity of resources, many higher education institutions are developing interprofessional education (IPE) programs. However, there has been little empirical work on what. With the current interest for interprofessional collaboration in health care ever-increasing knowledge and skills are required to work collaboratively between health professions. We have undertaken to describe interprofessional collaboration as a practice largely underpinned by tacit knowledge acquired by experienced clinicians. Clinicians from all health professions in a large francophone university in Eastern Canada were invited to participate in explicitation interviews. Explicitation interviews require participants to freely recall an interprofessional collaboration event (e.g., team meeting or joint care delivery) and describe specific actions they personally enacted. An experienced health professional encounters many interprofessional situations over time; the actions they describe reflect their personal theories about the practice. Hence, it is highly probable that they use them frequently when working with colleagues in clinical settings. Unveiled tacit knowledge was divided into four themes: the importance of a sense of belonging to a team, the imperative to meet face-to-face, the practice of soliciting the working hypotheses of colleagues, and the art of summarizing meeting discussions.

Interprofessional collaboration in hospitals: a critical, broad-based review of the literature

ABSTRACT Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is a common term applied in the healthcare literature, with suggestions it contributes to improved quality and safety of patient care across the globe. Despite worldwide implementation of models of IPC, past systematic or meta-reviews on this topic have concluded that the evidence is mixed. However, these reviews are yet to adequately consider the qualitative and mixed-methods literature on this topic. In this critical review, we synthesize the outcomes and key findings of IPC in hospitals, taking a broader approach by including diverse study designs. A total of 4,776 abstracts were screened from three major databases (Medline, CINAHL, Embase). Thirty-four studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. Although outcomes and key findings (e.g., staff turnover, error rates) were mostly positive, there were inconsistencies in the results. The included studies reflected a variety of study designs and different methodological approaches. Overall, our review revealed moderate evidence that IPC can positively influence patient, staff and organizational factors in hospitals, and that inconsistent findings may be due to variation in context (e.g., the cohort of patients). Recommendations from the review are to incorporate qualitative- and mixed-methods approaches to studying IPC in healthcare and tailor evaluations of IPC outcomes specific to the context.

Instruments measuring interprofessional collaboration in healthcare – a scoping review

ABSTRACTWorldwide there is growing understanding of the importance of interprofessional collaboration in providing well-functioning healthcare. However, little is known about how interprofessional collaboration can be measured between different health-care professionals. In this review, we aim to fill this gap, by identifying and analyzing the existing instruments measuring interprofessional collaboration in healthcare. A scoping review design was applied. A systematic literature search of two electronic databases, Medline (PubMed) and CINAHL, was conducted in 03/2018. The search yielded 1020 studies, of which 35 were selected for the review. The data were analyzed by content analysis. In total, 29 instruments measuring interprofessional collaboration were found. Interprofessional collaboration was measured predominantly between nurses and physicians with different instruments in various health-care settings. Psychometric testing was unsystematic, focusing predominantly on construct and content validity and internal consistency, thus further validation studies with comprehensive testing are suggested. The results of this review can be used to select instruments measuring interprofessional collaboration in practice or research. Future research is needed to strengthen the evidence of reliability and validity of these instruments.

Leadership in interprofessional collaboration in health care.

PurposeThere is a need to develop more knowledge on how frontline managers in health care services facilitate the development of new roles and ways of working in interprofessional collaborative efforts and the challenges they face in daily practice. The article is based on a study that examines the modes of governance adopted by frontline managers in Norway, with a special focus on leadership in collaborations between the Norwegian profession of social educator and other professions.Materials and methodsA qualitative research design was chosen with interviews of eleven frontline managers from district psychiatric centers, municipal health care services and nursing homes.ResultsThe results show that frontline managers largely exercise leadership in terms of self-governance and co-governance and, to a lesser degree, hierarchical governance. Self-governance and co-governance can facilitate substantial maneuverability in terms of professional practice and strengthen both discipline-related and user-oriented approaches in the collaboration. However, one consequence of self-governance and co-governance may be that some occupational groups and professional interests subjugate others, as illustrated by social educators in this study. This may be in conflict with frontline managers’ abilities to quality assure the services as well as their responsibility for role development in their staff.ConclusionThe results show that frontline managers experience challenges when they try to integrate different professions in order to establish new professional roles and competence. Frontline managers need to support individual and collective efforts in order to reach the overall goals for the services. They must be able to facilitate change and support creativity in a working community that consists of different professions. Moreover, the social educator’s role and competence need clarifications in services that traditionally have been dominated by other clinical and health care professions.

Improving Quality Through Nursing Participation at Bedside Rounds in a Pediatric Acute Care Unit: A Pilot Project

ProblemImplementation of bedside rounds enhances communication and collaboration between physicians and nurses, resulting in improved clinical outcomes. Yet, the literature demonstrates that it remains difficult for nurses to attend rounds if they don't know when they are happening. PurposeThis project aimed to increase nurses' presence and participation at bedside rounds in a pediatric acute care unit, enhance teamwork and collaboration, and improve quality outcomes. Design and methodsNurses carried a pager so that physicians could alert them of rounds. Perception of teamwork and collaboration was assessed via surveys pre- and post-intervention as well as the annual survey evaluating RN and MD interactions from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators™ (NDNQI®). Other quality outcome measures included length of stay and patient satisfaction through Press Ganey™ surveys. ResultsFindings demonstrated that when nurses were notified in advance, their participation in rounds increased from 44.4 to 73%. Length of stay decreased from 2.5 days prior to the project to an average of 2.10 days during the project. Scores on inpatient satisfaction surveys increased from 82.4 to 92.2%, and nursing communication improved from 83.3 to 95.65%. ConclusionInterprofessional collaboration as reflected by the inclusion of nurses at bedside rounds led to positive outcomes in patient care. ImplicationsIncreasing nurses' presence and providing them with a role at rounds is an important step towards fostering teamwork and collaboration with physicians and enhancing team-based care in a pediatric inpatient setting. Further research measuring the impact of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare is needed.

Readiness to change for interprofessional collaboration in healthcare: Development and validation of a theory-based instrument

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a study that aimed to develop and validate a theory-based instrument for the assessment of readiness to change for interprofessional collaboration in healthcare (IPC-TTM). The instrument was developed in the Persian language and tested in the Iranian context. Healthcare professionals from medical and nursing professions participated in the assessment of validity and reliability of the instrument. We conducted this psychometric study in two phases: First, the questionnaire was developed based on the transtheoretical model (TTM) through literature review and expert panel. Then, in the validation phase, we held three modified Delphi rounds to assess the content and face validity of the questionnaire. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate the fit of the questionnaire as applied to modified TTM. Reliability of the final instrument was tested by assessing the test-retest reliability of instrument items with Kappa coefficient. We also calculated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha to assess the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the instrument sub-scales. The initial item pool consisted of 30 items and three sub-scales (Attitude, Intention, and Action). The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed with 17 items. Based on the CFA results two additional items were deleted to increase the fit of the model. The final instrument was confirmed with 15 items and three sub-scales. Reliability assessment on the 15-item instrument showed an acceptable test-retest reliability of the instrument items. ICC values for the Attitude, Intention, and Action sub-scales of the instrument were calculated as 0.82, 0.73, and 0.71, respectively. Moreover, Cronbach’s alpha for the Attitude, Intention, and Action sub-scales were 0.85, 0.73, and 0.77, respectively. This study offers a new theory-based instrument to measure readiness to change for interprofessional collaboration in healthcare in the Iranian context. The questionnaire can be used for ‘needs assessment’ in developing tailored educational interventions and self-assessments in interprofessional education studies.

Nurse Perceptions of Artists as Collaborators in Interprofessional Care Teams.

Increased attention is being given to interprofessional collaboration in healthcare, which has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, patient safety, healthcare processes, and health outcomes. As the arts and artists are being more widely incorporated into healthcare settings throughout the world, professional artists are contributing to interprofessional care teams. A secondary directed content analysis of interviews with 31 nurses on a medical-surgical care unit investigated the roles and impacts of professional artists on the interprofessional care team. The investigation utilized established domains of interprofessional care, including values and ethics, roles and responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork, and created the domain of quality of care. Findings suggest that artists are valued by nurses as members of the interprofessional care team, that they enhance the provision of patient-centered care, and that they improve quality of care by providing holistic dimensions of caring, including cognitive and social engagement, and meaningful interaction. The presence of artists on interprofessional teams provides a cost-effective and welcome resource for clinical staff and builds a culture in which creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration are more highly valued and activated.

Nursing assistants matters-An ethnographic study of knowledge sharing in interprofessional practice.

Interprofessional collaboration involves some kind of knowledge sharing, which is essential and will be important in the future in regard to the opportunities and challenges in practices for delivering safe and effective health care. Nursing assistants are seldom mentioned as a group of health care workers that contribute to interprofessional collaboration in health care practice. The aim of this ethnographic study was to explore how the nursing assistants' knowledge can be shared in a team on a spinal cord injury rehabilitation ward. Using a sociomaterial perspective on practice, we captured different aspects of interprofessional collaboration in health care. The findings reveal how knowledge was shared between professionals, depending on different kinds of practice architecture. These specific cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements enabled possibilities through which nursing assistants' knowledge informed other practices, and others' knowledge informed the practice of nursing assistants. By studying what health care professionals actually do and say in practice, we found that the nursing assistants could make a valuable contribution of knowledge to the team.