Inter-professional education and collaborative practice: Nursing’s place at the table

12^th Nursing and Healthcare Congress

October 03-05, 2016 Vancouver, Canada

Kimberly Adams Tufts

Old Dominion University, USA

Keynote: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Collaboration, teamwork, effective communication and ethical decision-making are essential to effective inter-professional collaborative practice (IPCP). IPCP has been associated with better individual and population health outcomes. Engaging patients, families, and communities in mutual goal-setting around health, quality of life, and enhanced viability is foundational to IPCP. However, health professionals� ability to engage in the inter-professional collaborative practice and to transforming health care systems is dependent upon their being exposed to and engaged in an inter-professional culture during their formative professional years. Inter-professional education (IPE) is the method for engaging students in IPCP during their formative years. Notably, Nursing has a well-established history of valuing the voices of others and of collaboration with other health professionals and patients/families. Therefore, the profession has the potential to assume a leadership role in an environment wherein educational institutions, health systems, professional organizations, and policy makers coalesce around issues of how best to integrate IPE into established educational programs and how to support the integration of IPCP into systems of care. Hence, it is essential that Nursing faculty strategically a) engage in professional development efforts to enhance our capacity for using IPE methodologies to teach nursing and other health professions students, b) lead curricula transformation efforts on our respective campuses, and c) work externally to shape educational policy and accreditation standards that support the integration of IPE across curricula. Moving forth quickly with this agenda will secure Nursing�s place at the health care transformation table and solidify our continued legacy of success.

Biography :

Kimberly Adams Tufts is Professor and Assistant Dean for inter-professional education at the College of Health Sciences. She is a nurse and specializes in women’s health care. She has a solid history of working in policy arena to secure accessible and available quality health care for vulnerable populations including children, unserved urban dwelling persons, and the elderly and ethnic minorities. She also has more than two decades of experience in higher education administration and has held faculty roles in both school of nursing and medicine.

Email: ktufts@odu.edu