Observed Interprofessional Collaboration (OIPC) During Interdisciplinary Team Meetings: Development and Validation of a Tool in a Rehabilitation Setting

Background: Despite all the efforts made in the past few years, interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in clinical settings is not always optimal. In addition, there are only a few instruments that healthcare managers and practitioners can use to evaluate the quality of IPC practice. Therefore, we developed an observationbased tool to evaluate IPC interactional factors occurring during interdisciplinary team meetings, and we examined the initial validation of the tool in a rehabilitation setting.Methods and Findings: The items were developed and pre-tested iteratively by construct experts (N = 7) and non-experts (N = 4). Interrater reliability was determined between two observers, following the analysis of 30 video recordings of meetings in two rehabilitation centres involving a total of 152 participants. An observation grid (OIPC) consisting of 20 items that can be answered on a threepoint scale and demonstrating acceptable interrater reliability was developed.Conclusions: The OIPC is a tool aimed at evaluating IPC interactional factors during interdisciplinary meetings based on team performance rather than individual behaviours. It can be useful for healthcare managers and practitioners who want to evaluate the quality of IPC practices

Consensus group sessions: a useful method to reconcile stakeholders’ perspectives about network performance evaluation

Background: Having a common vision among network stakeholders is an important ingredient to developing a performance evaluation process. Consensus methods may be a viable means to reconcile the perceptions of different stakeholders about the dimensions to include in a performance evaluation framework. Objectives: To determine whether individual organizations within traumatic brain injury (TBI) networks differ in perceptions about the importance of performance dimensions for the evaluation of TBI networks and to explore the extent to which group consensus sessions could reconcile these perceptions. Methods: We used TRIAGE, a consensus technique that combines an individual and a group data collection phase to explore the perceptions of network stakeholders and to reach a consensus within structured group discussions. Results: One hundred and thirty-nine professionals from 43 organizations within eight TBI networks participated in the individual data collection; 62 professionals from these same organisations contributed to the group data collection. The extent of consensus based on questionnaire results (e.g. individual data collection) was low, however, 100% agreement was obtained for each network during the consensus group sessions. The median importance scores and mean ranks attributed to the dimensions by individuals compared to groups did not differ greatly. Group discussions were found useful in understanding the reasons motivating the scoring, for resolving differences among participants, and for harmonizing their values

Recommendations for the use of common outcome measures in pediatric traumatic brain injury research

This article addresses the need for age-relevant outcome measures for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and summarizes the recommendations by the inter-agency Pediatric TBI Outcomes Workgroup. The Pediatric Workgroup\u27s recommendations address primary clinical research objectives including characterizing course of recovery from TBI, prediction of later outcome, measurement of treatment effects, and comparison of outcomes across studies. Consistent with other Common Data Elements (CDE) Workgroups, the Pediatric TBI Outcomes Workgroup adopted the standard three-tier system in its selection of measures. In the first tier, core measures included valid, robust, and widely applicable outcome measures with proven utility in pediatric TBI from each identified domain including academics, adaptive and daily living skills, family and environment, global outcome, health-related quality of life, infant and toddler measures, language and communication, neuropsychological impairment, physical functioning, psychiatric and psychological functioning, recovery of consciousness, social role participation and social competence, social cognition, and TBI-related symptoms. In the second tier, supplemental measures were recommended for consideration in TBI research focusing on specific topics or populations. In the third tier, emerging measures included important instruments currently under development, in the process of validation, or nearing the point of published findings that have significant potential to be superior to measures in the core and supplemental lists and may eventually replace them as evidence for their utility emerges

Development, implementation, and evaluation of the Apollo model of pediatric rehabilitation service delivery

This article presents the experience of a rehabilitation program that un- dertook the challenge to reorganize its services to address accessibility issues and im- prove service quality. The context in which the reorganization process occurred, along with the relevant literature justifying the need for a new service delivery model, and an historical perspective on the planning; implementation; and evaluation phases of the process are described. In the planning phase, the constitution of the working committee, the data collected, and the information found in the literature are presented. Apollo, the new service delivery model, is then described along with each of its components (e.g., community, group, and individual interventions). Actions and lessons learnt during the implementation of each component are presented. We hope by sharing our experiences that we can help others make informed decisions about service reorganization to im- prove the quality of services provided to children with disabilities, their families, and their communities