Introduction: The number of complex healthcare problems is increasing, the workforce is diminishing, and healthcare costs are rising. Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice is a promising solution, necessitating the cultivation of skills and competencies among health and social care professionals. The central question guiding this study revolves around the possibility of merging interprofessional collaboration, lifelong learning, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and the Rehabilitation Competency Framework (RCF) into a unified competency framework that can be used in both education and in the work field. Method: In total, five modified Delphi rounds were executed during three phases specifically comprising the design, relevance, and report stages. The first contains a literature search, the second includes 11 pilots with surveys, and the last finalized the INPRO Competency Framework (INPRO CF). Results: The primary result is the INPRO CF that is readable, accurate, applicable, and accepted. It contains five domains, 17 competencies, and 200 learning outcomes or behaviors. It exists in four languages (Dutch, Finnish, English, German). Discussion: The INPRO CF is a relevant interprofessional competency framework designed to alleviate deficiencies between education and practice so it is suitable for a lifelong learning process. It demonstrates adaptability across various contexts. Implications for Practice The INPRO Competency Framework provides a structured overview of the learning journey in becoming an experienced interprofessional collaborator and is applicable in both practice and educational settings. The INPRO Competency Framework provides a comprehensive understanding of goals that an individual in a team can work on and structures those that it would like to achieve. The INPRO Competency Framework has the potential to positively impact person centered care by promoting collaboration among health and social care professionals. It simultaneously can contributes to transforming education by shaping curricula and preparing students for interprofessional teamwork in their future careers.
Background Interprofessional education is promoted as a means of enhancing future collaborative practice in healthcare. We developed a learning activity in which undergraduate medical, nursing and allied healthcare students practice interprofessional collaboration during a student-led interprofessional team meeting. Design and delivery During their clinical rotation at a family physician’s practice, each medical student visits a frail elderly patient and prepares a care plan for the patient. At a student-led interprofessional team meeting, medical, nursing and allied healthcare students jointly review these care plans. Subsequently, participating students reflect on their interprofessional collaboration during the team meeting, both collectively and individually. Every 4 weeks, six interprofessional team meetings take place. Each team comprises 9–10 students from various healthcare professions, and meets once. To date an average of 360 medical and 360 nursing and allied healthcare students have participated in this course annually. Evaluation Students mostly reported positive experiences, including the opportunity to learn with, from and about other healthcare professions in the course of jointly reviewing care plans, and feeling collectively responsible for the care of the patients involved. Additionally, students reported a better understanding of the contextual factors at hand. The variety of patient cases, diversity of participating health professions, and the course material need improvement. Conclusion Students from participating institutions confirmed that attending a student-led interprofessional team meeting had enabled them to learn with, from and about other health professions in an active role. The use of real-life cases and the educational design contributed to the positive outcome of this interprofessional learning activity.
Interprofessional communication and collaboration during hospitalisation is critically important to provide safe and effective care. Clinical rounds are an essential interprofessional process in which the clinical problems of patients are discussed on a daily basis. The objective of this exploratory study was to identify healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the “ideal” interprofessional round for patients in a university teaching hospital. Three focus groups with medical residents, registered nurses, medical specialists, and quality improvement officers were held. We used a descriptive method of content analysis. The findings indicate that it is important for professionals to consider how team members and patients are involved in the decision-making process during the clinical round and how current social and spatial structures can affect communication and collaboration between the healthcare team and the patient. Specific aspects of communication and collaboration are identified for improving effective interprofessional communication and collaboration during rounds.
