Interprofessional and integrated working
Interprofessional Institute (Health & Social Care)
A new centre of expertise
The Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences is closely involved with the development of the Interprofessional Institute - a new south-west London centre for interprofessional developments in health and social care research, education and practice.
The Institute is a key part of the SouthWest London Academic Network, an innovative alliance of three universities - Kingston University, St George’s, and Royal Holloway, University of London - focusing on the health, social care, biomedical and life sciences.
Members of the Institute come from a range of disciplines including healthcare informatics, sociology, policy, health sciences and the health and social care professions (medicine, nursing, midwifery, radiography, physiotherapy, paramedic science and social work).
Advancing knowledge of collaborative practice
The Institute is building a research portfolio which encourages researchers from across the alliance to work collaboratively and innovatively to build on individual institutions’ research expertise. Its focus is on research that advances knowledge of interprofessional working and collaborative practice and which uses a variety of conceptual, empirical and methodological approaches.
The Institute's portfolio includes the following areas of research expertise:
- The effect of organisational contexts on interprofessional practice
- The policy context of ethical professional practice
- The impact of innovation in work, new roles and information systems on patients, professionals, teams and organisations
- Public and patient relationships and engagement with professionals and research
- Race/ethnicity and inequalities in health
- Children/families and their support networks
- Risk, and its social construction - legal and ethical issues regarding consent - fear of violence towards healthcare professionals, and the impact of these factors on professional decisions, for example in child protection issues
- The conceptualisation of care within communities - how it is informed by cultural sensitivities and differing values which might include/exclude the family; policy and practice implications of Every Child Matters
- Approaches to interprofessional education
- Reflective practice and critical reflection in professional and inteprofessional education
- The nature of professional and interprofessional expertise
- The nature of professionalism and interprofessionalism in changing contexts.
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