Building capacity for interprofessional practice.

BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that professional development focused on collaborative practice can improve the quality of care and patient outcomes in specific populations. However, current educational knowledge does not include how to teach professionals to provide interprofessional collaborative care.
METHODS: This paper discusses the design, implementation and evaluation of the Interprofessional Collaborative Learning Series (IP-CLS), which provides clinicians with interprofessional professional development that promotes interprofessional competencies, allowing them to incorporate elements of interprofessional collaboration into practice, and creates leaders for interprofessional collaborative practice. The IP-CLS was piloted at a regional health centre in Ontario. Participants completed an online retrospective before and after self-assessment to determine the extent to which the IP-CLS contributed to changes in participants' behaviours related to interprofessional collaboration. A focus group further explored the extent to which the IP-CLS fostered change.
RESULTS: Online survey results and an analysis of focus group transcripts reveal the strengths of the IP-CLS and the elements that could be improved upon. Findings indicate that the IP-CLS has the potential to build capacity for interprofessional collaboration. DISCUSSION: The findings indicate that the IP-CLS has the potential to build capacity for interprofessional collaborative practice, and to help participants incorporate elements of interprofessional collaboration into practice. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.