Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Interprofessional education and collaborative practice research during the COVID-19 pandemic: Considerations to advance the field - a Journal of Interprofessional Care guest editorial by IPR.Global taskforce


Amid a global pandemic, learners, educators, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and service users find themselves in exceptional, unparalleled, and unusual circumstances. The interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) research community has been affected in a multitude of ways and vast changes are being experienced leaving one to wonder whether we are alone in a field that espouses unity and if there is guidance available. In late 2019, InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global) and Interprofessional.Global (IP.Global) authored a discussion paper to rouse dialogue and offer perspectives for the global IPECP research agenda (Khalili et al., 2019). The long-term aim was to advance IPECP theory and research by 2022, through recommendations for research priorities and counsel on theoretical frameworks, research methodologies, and formation of research teams. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid transformation to online IPECP, necessitating evaluation of the impact on students, programs, service users, and the healthcare system. Understandably, many are now asking how to continue to move forward, or even restart, IPECP research in this “new normal”. In response, IPR.Global formed a COVID-19 taskforce, from which an editorial was developed, to shed light on IPR.Global’s proposed recommendations for research teams and offer ways to forge ahead. 

Access the article at the journal webpage: 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2020.1807481

For more information contact Dr. Kelly Lackie, Dalhousie University: klackie@dal.ca