Delivering practice-based interprofessional education to community mental health teams: Understanding some key lessons.
This paper describes a project that offered an interprofessional education (IPE) experience to two community mental health teams (CMHTs) based in separate inner city locations. Team members were offered three weekly workshops that aimed to enhance their understanding of interprofessional collaboration and improve their collective work as a team. A multi-method research design was employed to evaluate the impact of the workshops. Data were collected at four points in time: before, directly after, three months and 12 months following the workshops. It was found that participants enjoyed their IPE experience and reported that it was helpful in enhancing their understanding of collaboration. In addition, one team reported that the workshops had contributed to improving their communication with one another. However, two key factors constrained the overall impact of this IPE experience: a limited involvement of medical staff, which undermined the 'value' of the workshops; and a lack of senior managerial support, which impeded efforts to transfer team-based learning into practice. These findings are discussed in relation to the IPE, sociology and change management literature in order to help understand some key lessons associated with delivering practice-based IPE.
Reeves
Scott
S
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Centre for Faculty Development at St Michael's Hospital, Wilson Centre for Research in Education, University of Toronto, 200 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5G 2C4.
Freeth
Della
D
Glen
Sally
S
Leiba
Tony
T
Berridge
Emma-Jane
EJ
Herzberg
Joe
J