Project Background and Summary

As the health care system is faced with a marked increase in chronic health conditions, health care professionals are required to address the increasingly complex psychosocial, cultural, spiritual and physical needs of their patients and families. As no single profession can address all of these needs effectively, they must work in collaborative teams to place the patient at the centre of the circle of care.
 
In order to teach health profession students how to work within an interprofessional team and mindset, however, we must first have educators and clinical preceptors who are knowledgeable about the roles and responsibilities of other health care professionals, and who are trained to teach and model interprofessional education. As such, this project will focus on enhancing interprofessional teaching and role modeling skills for health science faculty members and clinical preceptors in local universities, community colleges and teaching practice sites across the Champlain LHIN region.

Phases/timeline

The current project complements and draws upon work being done in other interprofessional health education initiatives. In 2006, the Health Canada IECPCP grant was awarded to the University of Ottawa for the project entitled Interprofessional Education for Collaborative Patient-Centred Practice (ICPCP) through the Humanities, which constitutes the first phase in the strategy to develop leaders and mentors in ICPCP at Bruyère Continuing Care (insert link to IECPC&H description on website).

Phase 2 of the strategy was based at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital (50 km south of Ottawa) where different health profession and spiritual care students worked together to learn about interprofessional practice in their clinical internships.

The current project constitutes phase 3 of the strategy and includes increasing the pool of interested and educated staff members at Bruyère Continuing Care able to lead, role model, teach and coach ICPCP, as well as the following goals, objectives and outcomes that will be realized over a 3-year period across the Champlain LHIN region (2007-2010).

Short term outcomes

• Learners (i.e. faculty members and preceptors) will increase their ability to define, discuss, reflect and apply the principles of ICPCP and may experience improved job satisfaction.
• Senior managers at the associated universities, colleges and teaching practice sites will increase their commitment to ICPCP and related education (a sustainability plan).
• Through dissemination strategies (e.g. conference presentations), audience members will be able to describe the project and lessons learned.

Intermediate objectives

• A community of practice consisting of health care educators and role models (i.e. faculty members and preceptors) skilled in ICPCP will be established across the Champlain LHIN region.

Long term goal

• Health care trainees/learners will experience exemplar ICPCP in their training and/or clinical practicums in teaching sites across the Champlain LHIN region.

Funding and Partnerships

This project is funded by Health Force Ontario’s Interprofessional Health Education Innovation Fund (IHEIF), a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC).

Partner organizations of the project include the Academic Health Council, the University of Ottawa Faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Education, Algonquin College, La Cité Collégiale, Saint Paul University, the Élisabeth Bruyère Research Institute, Bruyère Continuing Care, the Winchester District Memorial Hospital, and the Health Science Student Association.

Project Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Pippa Hall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, a palliative care physician with Bruyère Continuing Care and a member of the Division of Palliative Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She is Program Director for the Palliative Medicine Residency Program at the University of Ottawa.

Since embarking on her academic career in palliative care, Dr. Hall has become recognized as one of Canada’s leaders in palliative care education and evaluation. Her passions include not only palliative/end-of-life care, but also collaborative patient-centred practice, interprofessional education and program evaluation. She has developed a number of educational innovations.

Dr. Hall received the 2005 Canadian Association of Medical Education Junior Award for distinguished contribution to medical education, the 2005 Ontario Medical Association Section of Palliative Care Annual Award of Excellence, the 2005 Michel Bilodeau Award from Bruyère Continuing Care for exceptional performance, surpassing oneself at work and bringing honour to the organization, and the University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prize for 2005-2006.

Project Manager

Dana Cross, BSc, MA, PMP
Élisabeth Bruyère Research Institute
43 Bruyère Street

Room 280J

Ottawa ON  K1N 5C8
Tel.: 613-562-6262 (1638)
Fax: 613-562-6371
dcross@bruyere.org

Research Assistant

Enkenyelesh Bekele, BA Honors
Élisabeth Bruyère Research Institute
43 Bruyère Street

Room 283J

Ottawa ON  K1N 5C8
Tel.: 613-562-6262 (1590)
Fax: 613-562-6371
ebekele@bruyere.org