Voula Christofilos (North York General Hospital); Rick Penciner (North York General Hospital; Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto); Antonina D’Urzo (North York General Hospital); Susan Woollard (North York General Hospital; Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto); Tammy Muskat (North York General Hospital, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto); Mohini Pershad (North York General Hospital; Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto)

Synopsis

We developed and implemented a longitudinal interprofessional education teacher development program at a large community teaching hospital to begin the process of organizational change in interprofessional education. This study describes participants’ individual commitments to change and perceived barriers to change following participation in an interprofessional education development.

Purpose

We developed and implemented a longitudinal interprofessional education teacher development program at a large community teaching hospital in Toronto, Canada to begin the process of organizational change in interprofessional education. The purpose of this study was to describe participants’ commitments to change and their perceived barriers to implementing these changes following participation in a 4-session program on interprofessional education development.

Methods

The program consisted of four 90 minute workshops over 4 consecutive months. The goals of the program were to raise awareness and foster positive attitudes in IPE, address barriers and challenges in IPE and develop competencies in IPE facilitation. At the end of each session, participants were asked to “write 1 thing down that they would do different as a result of the workshop” and to list barriers that may be associated with this change item. After the last workshop, participants that consented, provided their “commitment to change” table. The data was transcribed and grouped according to themes.

Results

24 health professionals from 9 different professions registered and attended the workshops. 15 participants attended at least 3 sessions with 10 of these consenting to participate. Common themes of commitment to change included; learning about other professions/roles, using reflection in practice and teaching, focusing on team building and addressing conflict resolution.

Conclusions

We describe individual’s “commitment to change” and barriers to implementing these changes following a longitudinal program on interprofessional education development at a community teaching hospital.

Declaration

The authors have no real or apparent conflict(s) of interest.