Interprofessional Collaborative (IPC) Rounds on Internal Medicine
Exemplary health care is clinically effective, compassionate and safe. High-quality health care is not borne from individual caregiving but from a team effort, from interprofessional collaboration where health care professionals engage in effective communication, demonstrate mutual respect and trust, as well as knowledge and appreciation of colleagues’ skills.
The IPC Rounds offer a forum for health care professionals, with a primary focus on the ‘process’ of collaboration, through the delivery of ‘content’. By inviting participants to engage in a collaborative process during IPC Rounds, the intention is to facilitate health care professionals’ understandings of promoters and barriers to synergistic patient care through a meaningful, lived experience; through generative inquiry; and reflection. Additionally, the IPC Rounds’ planning committee looks to bring the ‘elephant-into-the room’ by introducing topics for exploration, fundamental to the process of IPC that traditionally have not been openly discussed by an interprofessional health care team, for e.g., horizontal violence, respect, power and privilege, what is a team?
The model of IPC rounds that has evolved is a novel approach to addressing some of the underlying areas of concern in health care teams – the hidden attitudes, assumptions, biases, judgments, values, expectations, and beliefs of team members that may inadvertently or knowingly enhance or hinder effective interprofessional collaboration. While much has been written on interprofessional education, less has been written on interprofessional collaboration, with even less on the process of collaboration, compared to articles on IPC competencies, professional identities, IPC evaluation, communities of collaborative practice, etc.
The IPC Rounds created on Internal Medicine at Toronto General Hospital will be presented in April, 2010 in Sydney, Australia, at the 5th international All Together Better Health Conference, an interprofessional health and social care symposia. Additionally, arising out of the January 2010 IPC Rounds are innovative initiatives on the development of team work specific to Internal Medicine, which are being created and established by Anne VanDeursen and Beth Curiale. Kanae Kinoshita and Anne VanDeursen, co-chairs of the IPC Rounds are also articulating the model and framework for the IPC Rounds and anticipate submitting this for publication in spring 2010.
For more information please contact Kanae Kinoshita, Spiritual Care Professional, TGH GIM & ED (kanae.kinoshita@uhn.on.ca) or Anne VanDeursen, Clinical Nurse Specialist, TGH, GIM (anne.vandeursen@uhn.on.ca).