Interprofessional education at Laval University: Building an integrated curriculum for patient-centred practice.

The Laval University Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Nursing, and School of Social Work, in partnership with the Vieille-Capitale Health and Social Services Centre in Quebec City, obtained funding from Health Canada to design, implement, and evaluate an integrated interprofessional education (IPE) program for family medicine, nursing, and social work students and for professionals from those professions working in primary care. The program was developed around four components and produced the following outcomes: a 45-hour undergraduate curriculum; IPE practical training for professionals, supervisors, residents and trainees in primary care teaching settings; a continuing education model for professionals based on a coaching approach, and; information and communication technology resources. After briefly describing the implementation process, educational content, and evaluation highlights of each component, the integrated program is discussed with respect to the inter-area complementarities and coherence with the conceptual dimensions that have guided the development of the program: IPE, collaboration, and collaborative patient-centered practice. The positive evaluation outcomes, the sustainability of the educational activities, and the enthusiasm of the different partners led to the creation of the Collaborative Network on Interprofessional Practices at Laval University and its affiliated health and social services clinical network.

Implementing an interfaculty series of courses on interprofessional collaboration in prelicensure health science curriculums.

INTRODUCTION: Interprofessional collaborative practices are increasingly recognized as an effective way to deal with complex health problems. However, health sciences students continue to be trained in specialized programs and have little occasion for learning in interdisciplinary contexts. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT: The project's purpose was to develop content and an educational design for new prelicensure interfaculty courses on interprofessional collaboration in patient and family-centered care which embedded interprofessional education principles where participants learn with, from and about each other. IMPLEMENTATION: Intensive training was part of a 45-hour program, offered each semester, which was divided into three 15-hour courses given on weekends, to enhance accessibility. EVALUATION: A total of 215 students completed questionnaires following the courses, to assess their satisfaction with the educational content. Pre/post measures assessed perception of skills acquisition and perceived benefits of interprofessional collaboration training. Results showed a significant increase from the students' point of view in the knowledge and benefits to be gained from interprofessional collaboration training. CONCLUSION: The implementation of an interfaculty training curriculum on interprofessional collaborative practice is challenging in many ways, though it offers a true opportunity to prepare future health human resources for contemporary practice requirements.