“Booster Days”: An educational initiative to develop a community of practice of primary care collaborative memory clinics

ABSTRACT

This study explores the value of a Booster Day education initiative for clinicians working in interprofessional Primary Care Collaborative Memory Clinics (PCCMC) to share updates in dementia care, challenging cases, key lessons learned, and best practices, as a mechanism to foster learning and support the PCCMC Community of Practice (CoP). Between 2010 and 2016, 17 annual Booster Days were delivered to health professionals who completed the PCCMC training program. All participants were invited to complete an evaluation survey in which they identified the ways in which the sessions have been helpful; 89% (1361/1530) completed surveys. The Booster Days were valued as opportunities for networking to learn from other clinicians, fostering a sense of community, learning new information, learning to support practice improvements, and team building. An annual Booster Day that incorporates active participant engagement, information sharing, and networking may effectively support CoPs, learning, team building, and practice change within interprofessional teams.

KEYWORDS:

• Continuing education
• interprofessional education
• communities of practice
• dementia care
• primary care collaborative memory clinics

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank PCCMC team members for their contributions to the Booster Days and their commitment to improving dementia care.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the Betty Haven Knowledge Translation Grant, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the Betty Haven Knowledge Translation Grant, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.