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Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative

At first glance, Canada’s Olympic rowing teams and today’s healthcare professionals may not have much in common. However, in order to achieve success – be it a gold medal or improving the quality of patient care – both groups need to apply the principles of good team dynamics.

You can assemble a group of superstars, but if they do not work well as a unit, they cannot effectively reach their goal. Since Canadians increasingly receive their care from a multidisciplinary team of health professionals, ‘rowing in synch’ has become more important than ever to improving both the quality of care and patient safety.

To this end, the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) has stepped up to act as ‘coxswain’, steering, coaching and leading our nation’s health teams to better care through the promotion of interprofessional education as the foundation for improved collaborative practice.

Opposite of the traditional approach whereby health providers are educated in ‘silos’ with members of their own practice, interprofessional education (IPE) occurs when two or more professions learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care.

“Educational institutions that implement IPE are moving towards a paradigm shift in the healthcare system,” says Dr. John Gilbert, Project Lead and Chair of the CIHC.

“When collaborative practice is effective, the existing team begins to think differently about other disciplines, learns to respect and value the work of their teammates, and includes the patient as a member of the healthcare team,” he explains.

Gilbert says this innovative, team-focused approach leads to greater efficiency in practice. “Collaborative teams that work closely together -- and respect the work of their fellow professionals -- tend to be more efficient, have less duplication of processes and procedures, and ultimately experience better workplace health,” he notes.

Created under Health Canada’s Interprofessional Education for Collaborative Patient-Centred Practice (IECPCP) initiative introduced in 2005, the CIHC is a pan-Canadian organization that identifies and shares best practices and successes in interprofessional collaboration and patient-centred care, with the goal of empowering health professionals to work together to transform the health system.

The CIHC facilitates critical connections between important stakeholders in an effort to ensure everyone can benefit from the accumulating evidence base related to IPE and collaborative practice.

CIHC-sponsored projects to introduce and implement IPE for collaborative patient-centred practice have ranged from interprofessional emergency preparedness-planning to simulating interprofessional care experiences in chronic disease to a provincial network of IPE projects. (To read case studies set in a variety of settings, populations and programs, please visit www.cihc.ca/resources/ipe-in-action.html)

“Every day we are bombarded with media stories about the problems in Canada’s healthcare system,” says Andrea Burton, CIHC’s Director of Communications.

“Within this noisy environment, the CIHC and partners have begun to investigate and introduce research that shows how interprofessional collaboration and patient-centred care can address key healthcare challenges such as access, recruitment and retention, primary health and patient safety,” she notes.

Burton says the CIHC is confident sustainable changes in health and education can occur across Canada by sharing the outcomes and best practices of ongoing and planned projects, academic papers and evidence-based research.

She has reason to be optimistic, given the number of successes the CIHC has achieved in its first two years of operation as a Collaborative, including:

-- The development of a national conference, a series of regional meetings and a range of significant sub-committee activities and outputs;

-- The compilation and synthesis of current knowledge and expertise of interprofessional curricula and research across the country, paving the foundation for comprehensive agenda-setting; and

-- The production of a range of valuable knowledge translation materials and activities such as a website, newsletters, plus electronic and face-to-face networking.

As Canada’s hub for IPE, collaboration in healthcare practice and patient-centred care, the CIHC equips workplaces to be more collaborative by planning educational forums and meetings, participating in workshops and conferences, developing materials for various levels of the system, and actively seeking out partners and interested stakeholders across the country.

The bottom line is when it comes to reinforcing the importance of quality worklife issues in Canadian healthcare settings, IPE is proving to be a valuable approach that warrants cultivation.

“Evidence shows that IPE can enable students and practitioners to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to work collaboratively,” stresses Burton.

“IPE can enhance practice, improve the delivery of services and may have a positive impact on patient care. Taken together, these positive changes will also create a more positive working environment.”

For more information on the CIHC, or to access the Collaborative’s ever-expanding library of IPE tools and resources, please visit www.cihc.ca.