The Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice is the product of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (see Appendix 1 for a full list of members). Interprofessional education and collaborative practices can play an important role in mitigating many of the challenges facing healthcare systems around the world.
Learning together to work together for
The need to strengthen health systems based on primary health care principles has become one of the most urgent challenges for policy makers, health professionals, managers and community members worldwide. Governments around the world are seeking innovative solutions to transform the system to ensure the appropriate supply, mix and distribution of the health workforce.
For health workers to collaborate effectively and improve health outcomes, two or more from different professional backgrounds must first be provided with opportunities to learn from and with each other. It is within these environments that the biggest steps towards strengthening health systems can be made.
Key concepts
Health Systems and Services Interprofessional education and collaborative practice enhance the strengths and skills of health professionals. The Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice outlines a range of practice- and system-level mechanisms that can assist policy makers.
Team-based learning at Jimma University, Ethiopia
Interprofessional training provides health workers with the kinds of skills needed to coordinate the delivery of care when emergencies arise. Individuals working regularly on a collaborative practice team can improve a region's capacity to respond to health security issues such as bird flu outbreaks.
International environmental scan of interprofessional education practices
After nearly 50 years of research, there is now sufficient evidence that interprofessional education enables effective collaborative practice, which in turn optimizes health services, strengthens health systems, and improves health outcomes (Figure 6) (6-21). Summary tables of research evidence from systematic reviews related to interprofessional education and collaborative practice can be found in appendices 6 and 7, respectively.
Cross-sectoral interprofessional collaboration during health crises
This evidence clearly demonstrates the need for a collaborative practice-ready health workforce, which may include health professionals from regulated and non-regulated professions such as community health workers, economists, health informatics, nurses, managers,. Interprofessional education and collaborative practice are not panaceas for every challenge facing the health system.
Critical reflection on collaborative practice
But if used appropriately, they can equip health workers with the skills and knowledge they need to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex global health system. It can also help recruit and retain health workers (29) and may help mitigate health workforce migration.
Health workforce satisfaction and well-being
Action Framework for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Due to the unique nature of each individual. Regardless of the context in which policymakers choose to implement collaborative practice, research evidence and experience have shown that a team-based approach to health care delivery maximizes the strengths and skills of each contributing health worker.
Family health teams in Brazil
One of the benefits of implementing interprofessional education and collaborative practices is that these strategies change the way healthcare professionals interact with each other to deliver care. Achieving interprofessional education and collaborative practice requires a review and assessment of the mechanisms that shape both.
Moving forward
The development of interprofessional education curricula is a complex process and may involve staff from different faculties, work settings and locations. The careful preparation of instructors for their roles in the development, delivery and evaluation of interprofessional education is.
Staff training for interprofessional education
For interprofessional education to be successfully integrated into curricula and training packages, the early experiences of staff must be positive. Framework for action in the field of interprofessional education and collaborative practice, assessment of what has been learned.
Interprofessional education offers students real-world experience
Interprofessional curriculum development and delivery
Mandatory interprofessional education
Interprofessional education provides students with the training they need to become part of the collaborative, practice-ready healthcare workforce. Agree on a shared vision and purpose for interprofessional education with key stakeholders across all faculties and organisations.
Delivery of interprofessional education using information communication technologies
While a health workforce prepared for collaborative practice is an essential mechanism for shaping the effectiveness of collaborative practice, it does not by itself ensure the delivery of optimal health services (Figure 8). Other practice-level mechanisms, such as institutional support, work culture, and environment, may enable the effectiveness of collaborative practice (Table 2).
Effective communication strategies
Collaborative practice works best when it is organized around the needs of the population served and takes into account the way local health care is delivered. Institutional mechanisms can shape the way a team of people work together, creating synergy rather than fragmentation (43).
Students’ views of interprofessional education
They need to know that management supports teamwork and believes in sharing responsibility for health care service delivery among team members.
Structures for shared decision-making
At the same time, the personnel policy must recognize and support the practice of cooperation and offer fair and equitable remuneration. Develop HR policies that recognize and support collaborative practices and offer fair and equitable reward models.
Vision and programme aims
Design a built environment that encourages, facilitates, and expands the practice of interprofessional collaboration within and among service agencies. Develop a delivery model that allows staff sufficient time and space to focus on interprofessional collaboration and delivery of care.
Collaborative practice and the built environment
Key principles that can guide the movement toward interprofessional education and collaborative practice include context relevance, policy integration, multilevel systems change, and collaborative leadership. Because legislative changes can affect how health professionals are educated, accredited, regulated, and compensated, legislation has a significant impact on the development, implementation, and sustainability of interprofessional education and.
Legislation to support collaborative practice
Institutions and individuals working in health and education systems can help foster a supportive climate for interprofessional collaboration. Legislation is the key mechanism through which the health and education systems are organized, monitored and managed.
Government mechanisms
The health and education systems must coordinate their efforts to ensure that the health workforce of the future consists of appropriately qualified personnel, located in the right place at the right time. In the development of collaborative practice, health workers and health educators must discuss how to make the transition from education to the work environment.
The way in which health and education services are financed, funded and commissioned‡ can influence the success of interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Governance mechanisms that establish system-wide standards and support patient safety can be used to incorporate interprofessional education and collaborative practice within the health care system.
Sustained political commitment
Many governance mechanisms put in place around the world exist to protect patients and communities. If regulation is too rigid, processes can become fragmented and lead to escalating costs and additional burden on the healthcare system.
Integrated health and education policies as supportive mechanisms
In almost every country there are legal and regulatory structures that can be both barriers to and enablers of interprofessional education and collaborative practice. By including interprofessional education and collaborative practice in legislation, accreditation requirements and/or registration criteria, policymakers and government leaders can be champions of interprofessional collaboration.
Interprofessional education and patient safety
Create accreditation standards for health professional education programs that include clear evidence of interprofessional education. Create an environment for sharing best practices in workforce planning, financing, funding and rewards that support interprofessional education and collaborative practice.
Conclusion
Ultimately, interprofessional education and collaborative practices are about people: the health professionals who provide services and work together to ensure that patients and the community receive the best treatment as efficiently as possible; the teachers who understand the importance of bringing students from different disciplines together to learn about, from and with each other; the health leaders and policy makers who strive to ensure that there are no barriers to the implementation of collaborative practices within institutions; Policymakers will strive to deliver optimal health care services and better health outcomes by examining their local context to determine their needs and capabilities; commit to building interprofessional collaboration into new and existing programs; and championing successful initiatives and teams.
A role for global health organizations
For this reason, the Framework suggests that those seeking to develop and engage a collaborative practice-ready health workforce begin by assessing what is readily and currently available, and build on what they have. Moving to implement interprofessional education and collaborative practice will only work if there is a realistic possibility of success and an authenticity around how and what is to be achieved.
39 Commit
Collaborative practice should be the norm, but achieving this requires changes in attitudes, systems and operations. Identifying and supporting champions of interprofessional education and collaborative practices, ensuring appropriate practice-friendly collaborative policies, and sharing the positive results of successful collaborative programs are small but significant steps toward expanding the use of interprofessional collaboration worldwide.
Student leaders as partners for change
While each jurisdiction, region and country has unique challenges and needs, the purpose of this framework is to provide suggestions and ideas that will build on the work currently being done and to open dialogue and discussion around important interprofessional education initiatives and collaborative practices that can be implemented in practice. the future. Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practices that this framework will be the impetus for policymakers around the world to embrace interprofessional education and collaborative practices.
Championing interprofessional collaboration
By implementing strategies that foster interprofessional collaboration, the system will begin to move from a fragmented state to one where health systems are strengthened and health outcomes are improved.
Reducing turnover and improving health care in nursing homes: The potential effects of self-directed work teams. Reshaping health care in Latin America: a comparative analysis of health reform in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
Annexes
- AnnEx 1 Membership of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice
- AnnEx 2 Partnering organizations
- AnnEx 3 Methodology
- Public announcement on the creation of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education
- AnnEx 5 Key recommendations from the 1988 WHO Study Group on Multiprofessional Education for Health
- Promoting the concept of multiprofessional education
- AnnEx 6 Summary chart of research evidence from systematic reviews on Interprofessional Education (IPE)
- AnnEx 7 Summary chart of research evidence from select systematic reviews related to collaborative practice
- AnnEx 8 Summary chart of select international collaborative practice case studies
3Project Manager, WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, Department of Human Resources for Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Clearly, now is an exciting time of advancement for interprofessional education and collaborative practice.
