Educating a new generation of patient-centred collaborative teams

Welcome to the Toolkit for Enhancing and Maximizing Collaboration (TEAMc) for established teams. Developed by Dr. Carole Orchard, RN, BSN, Med, EdD., Associate Professor and Coordinator of Interprofessional Health Education and Research (IPHER)  at Western University, and in conjunction with the HealthForceOntario funded project Interprofessional Diabetic Foot Ulcer Team (IPDFUT) Development, this educational toolkit will help health care teams function at an optimal level of collaboration.

Although the health system is emphasizing patient involvement in planning for programs and the need for health providers to work in teams, there is limited assistance for teams to actually move into interprofessional client-centred collaborative practice (IPCCCP). Such practice requires today’s health system to attend to both vertical leadership (i.e. top-down) and shared leadership (i.e. within work groups) in teams. Vertical leadership needs to be both transformative and transactional to provide teams with the capacity to develop their own practice that will enhance patient care outcomes, while fitting into the overall strategic mission and values of health organizations. TEAMc is designed to assist in the above and is based on research findings from the development of both teams in practice and simulated educational interventions affirmed through literature on studies in a variety of disciplines.

The TEAMc educational modules and activity resources have been designed based on experiences in both the institutional and community settings to efficiently enhance collaborative work.

“Interprofessional Client-Centred Collaborative Practice involves a partnership between a team of health providers and a client where the person retains control over his/her care and is provided access to the knowledge and skills of team members to arrive at a realistic team shared plan of care and access to the resources to achieve the plan”

Dr. Carole Orchard, 2007

Our Mission

TEAMc helps to deliver patient-centred care in a participatory, collaborative and coordinated approach to shared decision making around health and social issues.