Interprofessional collaboration

The Office of Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC) provides foundational education and practice experiences in interprofessional collaboration, supported by research and scholarly approaches. 

How we work

Education, Practice and Research — these are the pillars of the OIPC. Each pillar strives to align with the Rady Faculty shared values of community and collaboration; scholarship and innovation, equity and inclusion; professionalism; and social accountability. (RFHS Strategic Framework 2016-2021).

Objective

The OIPC’s key objective is to expose all Rady Faculty students to the six competencies of interprofessional collaboration:

  • Team functioning
  • Interprofessional communication
  • Client/patient/family/community-centred care
  • Role clarification
  • Collaborative leadership
  • Interprofessional conflict resolution

Education

OIPC Education develops and delivers curriculum focused on enriching collaborative skills for interprofessional practice for all first- and second-year students in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

This team comprises an interprofessional team of faculty members from each of the five Rady Faculty Colleges: Dentistry/School of Dental Hygiene, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Rehabilitation Sciences.

A blended learning approach for students

All first-year learners across the Rady Faculty are placed into interprofessional teams, where they learn with, from and about one another over two years.

The roughly 600 learners per year currently stem from nine different health professional programs within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences:

  • Dental hygiene
  • Dentistry
  • Medicine
  • Nursing
  • Occupational therapy
  • Pharmacy
  • Physical therapy
  • Physician assistants
  • Respiratory therapy

A blended learning approach delivers foundational education in interprofessional collaborative practice, combining face-to-face synchronous activities with on-line facilitated asynchronous discussions, embedded within existing program courses.

Year 1

Curricular theme: Population health

IPC competencies (woven throughout the year’s teachings): team functioning, interprofessional communication and community-centred care

Face-to-face activities:

  • September - Engaging in health communities
  • January - Health promotion 

Year 2

Curricular theme: Safety and quality care

Face-to-face activities:

  • September - Teams and patient safety
  • January - Teams, conflict and quality

IPC competencies (woven throughout the year’s teachings and building on year 1): role clarification, collaborative leadership and interprofessional conflict resolution

Students are encouraged to attend the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences annual Communities and Collaboration Symposium in May.

Practice

The OIPC Practice team supports interprofessional practiced-based learning opportunities for students in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

While interprofessional practice opportunities occur in many diverse environments, this team has a particular interest in supporting placements in northern and rural communities.

We support:

  • Ndinawemaaganag: Interprofessional community engagement with Indigenous communities
  • Rural and remote practice-based opportunities
  • Student-led interprofessional practice activities
  • Interprofessional simulation

Research

The Rady Chair in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice works within the OIPC. The Chair is focused on interprofessional collaborative practice research and scholarship and advancing knowledge that will improve the quality of patient care, patient safety, retention of health-human resources and delivery of cost efficiencies.

In addition to providing leadership in training, educating, and mentoring future leaders in interprofessional practice, the Chair builds upon collaborative relationships between educational and practice systems promoting excellence in patient care, quality and safety.

Scholarship in progress

Advancing Leadership Performance and Capacity for Interprofessional Teamwork and Integrated Primary Healthcare. Halas G, Singh J, Singer A, Udod S, Gagnon S, Nagel D, Penner J.

Virtual Visits and Management of Primary Care in a Pandemic Environment. Halas G, Singer A, Katz A, Labine L, Kirby S, Wong S, Abrams E, Bohm E.

Student projects

Care-seeking experiences of adults with substance use disorders. BScMed 2021. Bannash K, Halas G, Knight E.

Examining care pathways for individuals with substance use disorders: Using an integrated primary health care approach to bridge in-hospital consultation and primary care. BScMed 2021. Kingma G, Knight E, Halas G.

Integrated Primary Healthcare Pathways for Substance Use Disorder. Med II Summer Research 2021. Subedi P, Halas G, Knight E.

Our team

Our team members are strong proponents of interprofessional collaborative care who have extensive experience in helping students to learn in and benefit from a collaborative environment.

OIPC newsletter

News and stories

Contact us

The Office of Interprofessional Collaboration
Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
290 Brodie Centre,750 Bannatyne Ave
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W2

oipc@umanitoba.ca
204-789-3309
204-789-3929