The Partnered Learning Project
IPC Team Resource Kit:
An Aid to Designing and Implementing Interprofessional Collaboration Workshops for Clinical Healthcare Teams
1.0 Project Description
Process | Materials | Experience/Lessons | Ongoing Challenges
An early priority of the project Steering Committee was to agree upon and document a description of the project. First and foremost this exercise was essential to ensure the Committee shared a common understanding of the practical elements of the proposed project (who, what, when, where, why and how). The process of developing these documents helped clarify issues and highlighted those areas where special attention or resources would be required during the implementation. Agreeing on the specifics of the implementation process at an early stage of the project also helped establish a shared vision and collaborative working relationships among the PLP team members. The resulting project introduction package continued to serve the needs of the Committee, ensuring consistent communication with institutional leaders and later aided the monitoring and evaluation of the project. The project introduction package represented important foundational thinking from which subsequent workshop orientation and curriculum materials flowed.
- Project introduction documents were developed following the pilot IPC workshop. The feedback and learning from the pilot workshop informed the project’s final implementation strategy.
- The process of discussing and documenting the project implementation strategy helped clarify the resourcing and scheduling requirements for successful implementation across all sites. The introduction documents also enabled multiple team members to actively engage in the team recruitment process while ensuring consistency in how the project was being described.
- The introduction documents were dated and given a version number as they were edited as required by changes or enhancements to the process.
- Electronic communication was an important part of ensuring we reached everyone in our target audience / teams.
- PLP Introduction Package - This 4 page document included a summary of the research project, identified the steering committee membership and design, showed the order in which teams would be studied in relation to the full project timeline, and illustrated the sequence and nature of all of the study activities as experienced by an individual team.
- Presenting all project activities on a single timeline helped focus the PLP team’s attention on issues of human resource scheduling and other critical deadlines to ensure successful completion of all project activities within the available time.
- These same materials also proved useful when presenting project orientation sessions to prospective participant teams or senior managers.
- Presenting the sequence of events from a clinical team’s perspective gave participating teams a better understanding of what they were consenting to. This also provided participating teams with a clear illustration of the larger context for the IPC workshop.
- Materials that were self-explanatory, clearly labeled and dated had the greatest impact, as hospital staff frequently rely on electronic communication and information sharing, and these materials were most easily shared across distances.
- It is helpful to assign a specific person with the responsibility for updating existing materials as required.
- Key documents should include a clear date or version number to avoid confusion when documents are updated.
Ongoing Challenges
- A qualitative study like the PLP, or an education program in the development stages, often continues to evolve with time and experience. Such changes can render project introduction or overview materials out of date, dramatically reducing their value and credibility.
