Abstract
BMC Medical Education's Collection on Advancing healthcare systems with interprofessional education and collaboration seeks to determine the missing links between the determinants and processes of collaboration at several levels, including links among learners, teachers and professionals, organisations, as well as among political, socio-economic and cultural systems.
This Collection highlights the ever-increasing need to better integrate the complementary skills and practices of different health profession disciplines (e.g. dietetics, dentistry, midwifery, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, oral health, paramedicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, psychology, social work, speech language therapy, and more) for better patient care in better healthcare systems. This Collection welcomed contributions of novel and innovative research about interprofessional learning, education, practice, and collaboration in health and social care at all levels. Dissemination of such research on interprofessional practice permits the development of a better understanding of a phenomenon for the development of a cohesive and integrated health care practice among professionals in response to societal needs. The seamless application of the concept of ‘interprofessional’ carries great promise in the development of integrated knowledge and skills, rather than fragmented disciplinary knowledge and practice.
Despite a central role of interprofessional practice in the medical field, implementation of this concept has been challenging and has only made some ground with concerted effort and perseverance. Traditionally, there exists a gap between interprofessional education and interprofessional practice, which needs to be bridged using a common basis for analysis. This Collection seeks to determine the missing links between the determinants and processes of collaboration at several levels, including links among learners, teachers and professionals, organisations, as well as among political, socio-economic and cultural systems.
The ultimate goal of the Collection is to further strengthen and emphasise the pivotal role of interprofessional education for collaborative and patient-centred practice.