New IPR Global Publication on the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on IPECP Around the Globe

The Interprofessional Research Global (IPR Global) COVID Impact Survey Group is pleased to share that an article reporting the results of  Phase 1 of the survey, The perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on interprofessional education and collaborative practice: preliminary results from phase I of a global survey, was published online by the Journal of Interprofessional Care authored by Andreas Xyrichis, Hossein Khalili, Dean Lising, Mukadder İ̇nci Baser Kolcu, Ghaidaa Najjar and Sylvia Langlois.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a sizable effect on interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) globally, yet much of the available literature on the topic remains anecdotal and locally bounded. This body of literature reflects celebratory and aspirational reports, with many case studies of successful response and perseverance under conditions of extreme pressure. There is, however, a more worrisome narrative emerging that pointed to differences in pandemic response with concerns raised about the sustainability of IPECP during and after the pandemic. The COVID-19 task force of Interprofessional Research Global (IPR Global) set out to capture the successes and challenges of the interprofessional community over the pandemic through a longitudinal survey, with a view to inform global attempts at recovery and resilience. 

In this article, we report preliminary findings from Phase 1 of the survey. Phase 1 of the survey was sent to institutions/organizations in IPR Global (representing over 50 countries from Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Africa). The country-level response rate was over 50%. Key opportunities and challenges include the abrupt digitalization of collaborative learning and practice; de-prioritization of interprofessional education (IPE); and rise in interprofessional collaborative spirit. Implications for IPECP pedagogy, research, and policy post-pandemic are considered. 

To read the full paper, please visit https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2023.2220739  

IPR.Global Members Publish Editorial Advocating for a Systems Approach to Advancing Health Care Resilience

 Guest Editorial - Journal of Interprofessional Care

Advancing health care resilience through a systems-based collaborative approach: Lessons learned from COVID-19

Hossein Khalili, Dean Lising, Giray Kolcu, Jill Thistlethwaite, John Gilbert, Sylvia Langlois, Barbara Maxwell, Mukadder İnci Başer Kolcu, Kathleen M. MacMillan, Carl Schneider, José Rodrigues Freire Filho, Ghaidaa Najjar, Zaid Al-Hamdan & Andrea Pfeifle 

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded everyone of the importance of long-term planning and preparedness. Effective pandemic preparedness requires the engagement of all stakeholders from across the spectrum of care while being aware of the strengths, susceptibilities, and capabilities of the health care system. Identifying gaps in preparedness, determining specific priorities, and developing plans for building and sustaining healthcare delivery while effectively addressing the pandemic and resilience at all levels from the individual, to team, organization, and system is crucial for success. There is an emergent need to build structures and processes that support resilience among current and future healthcare providers, teams, organizations, and systems. We believe that to prevent from and effectively address such crises in future, a systems-based collaborative approach to developing resilience is required. In response, InterprofessionalResearch.Global (IPR.Global) has recently published a Call to Action paper that provides key direction regarding interprofessional responses to address individual resilience, and support the resilience of healthcare teams, organizations, and systems.

Link to full text of article: 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13561820.2021.1981265

Link to IPR.Global "Call to Action": 

https://interprofessionalresearch.global/resilience-call-to-action/

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr's Inci and Giray Kolcu, Suleyman Demirel University (Turkey)

We, Assist. Prof. Dr. M. İnci Başer Kolcu and Assist. Prof. Dr. Giray Kolcu, are from Turkey,Isparta. We are in the Department of Medical Education and Informatics at Suleyman Demirel University, School of Medicine. Designing curriculum is one of our main roles. By the way, we are in an IPE leadership role at our university. In addition to our doctorate studies in medical education, Dr. Inci is a DDS, specialist in endodontics and Dr. Giray is a MD, specialist in family medicine. The studies about “interprofessional education” has just started in Turkey at the beginning of 2000s. There are a few local examples of practice but unfortunately has not widely applied yet. So our main goal is planning an educational curriculum based on IPE in Suleyman Demirel University and with this purpose Dr. Inci planned a doctoral thesis about the effectiveness of a communication skill program based on IPE. We met with IPR.Global via the doctoral thesis studies of Dr. Inci. 

IPR.Global welcomed us very friendly and we learned a lot from this group. With the Covid-19 pandemic, we joined the IPR.Global events more common. The meetings gave us a different vision and opens our minds. We want to underline that IPR.Global is an environment where the word "interprofessional" is internalized. It is a very fruitful and joyful environment that provides a very rich learning opportunity. As we love learning, we tried to contribute to this beautiful environment as much as we could. We had the opportunity to work with very valuable names in the field and benefit from their experiences. We had some roles in some global researches and proud of ourselves. Currently, we focused on Turkish adaptation studies of scales such as IPAS (Interprofessional Attitudes Scale) and EPIS (Extended Professional Identity Scale). And in our school of medicine, we put the "interprofessional education" approach in the faculties' educational goals and objectives for the first time in undergraduate medical education program. We are working on designing educational programs based on IPE for school of medicine and school of health sciences both. 

We believe that most problems that are thought to be specific to people and institutions or countries in the health and social fields are common problems that everyone faces in the world. Working together to make things better is meaningful, valuable and facilitating. And above all, accompanying and witnessing the emergence of a global response is invaluable. IPR.Global is important because they enable these responses from a scientific point of view and allow co-production. You can contact us in all the fields of Interprofessional education/communication/collaboration/research Contact us: mukadderkolcu@sdu.edu.tr and giraykolcu@sdu.edu.tr.

Interprofessional Research.Global Scholar Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights member research in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  

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