ECLECTIC Programme: Enhancing Interprofessional Collaboration in Interdisciplinary Community Specialist Teams Integrating Care for Older People in Ireland

Introduction

The ECLECTIC initiative involves a collaborative partnership between the National Clinical Programme for Older People (NCPOP) and academic researchers in the UCD IRIS centre. The work of the collaborative started in 2019 and continues over two work programme phases. The overall aim of the initiative is to foster health workforce capacity for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and teamworking within the national service model for older people, and specifically within the context of community specialist care integration.The objectives are:

Phase One

To co-design a capability framework for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in team-based care integration for older people
To develop an implementation toolkit to foster IPC within community specialist integrated care teams for Older People in Ireland

Phase Two

To evaluate the implementation of the capability framework using realist evaluation methodology in four case study sites
To identify the resources and supports required by clinical leaders & management for service design and innovation in team-based community care integration for older people.
To lead curriculum development and innovation across healthcare professional programmes, enhancing workforce capacity for IPC and teamworking in older persons’ care integration.

Project Outline

The first phase of the ECLECTIC programme resulted in the co-design of a (opens in a new window)capability framework and toolkit to support the development of IPC within interdisciplinary team-based care integration for older people with representatives from nine different disciplines of healthcare professionals, operational and programme managers, older people and academic researchers and health professional educators. The framework enhances workforce development under the following capability domains: professional role awareness and knowledge of the team, appropriate identification of specialist knowledge across disciplines, communicating across disciplines, communicating with older people, supporting decision-making and contributing to collective clinical decision-making and integrated care plans.

The second phase of the initiative involved embedding researchers within four case study sites to work alongside community specialist teams for older people (CST-OPs). These embedded researchers evaluated the adoption and utilisation of existing resources, including the ECLECTIC framework and toolkit for IPC. They also identified resource gaps and co-designed with the teams resources to address these gaps. The knowledge resulted in the development of critical implementation enablers, including a resource kit delivered to all 27 CST-OPs, providing access to capacity development tools, including a co-designed educational intervention to support role awareness, a co-designed canvas to capture the impact of team working on patients, staff and the system, as well as a communication tracker to capture workflow.

This initiative culminates in the establishment of a national cross-disciplinary taskforce comprising healthcare professional educators and curriculum designers from nursing, medicine, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, social work, psychology, occupational therapy, dietetics, and pharmacy. Collaborating closely, the taskforce is engaging in co-designing innovation and reform for gerontological and older persons’ healthcare curricula.

Project Resource Pack

This resource pack provides resources and strategies some of which are still under development to support ICPOP teams in addressing their prioritised focus areas. The focus areas are grouped under three domains.

These are: Professional Identity and Growth, Information Sharing and Care Coordination across Boundaries, and Quality Improvement and Programme Development.

For each focus area, we have identified resources and activities which have been designed to help teams optimise their performance in that area. Each activity is linked to a resource that provides more details on completing the activity and the related topic.

View ECLECTIC Study Resource Pack

Project Outputs

ECLECTIC Resource Pack

Download ECLECTIC Resource Pack PDF (Full Version)

ECLECTIC Capability Framework and Toolkit: Report

O’Donnell, D., O’Shea, M., Donnelly, S., Ní Shé, É., O’ Donoghue, G., Bourke, N., Brennan, J., Claffey, A., Coleman, S., Cosgrave, S., Lang, D., Maloney, P., McAuliffe, E., McGuigan, C., McMahon, N., O’Shea, D., Quinn, S., Reilly, P., Whitty, H. (2021) Getting Started in Developing Core Competences for Interprofessional Collaboration Within Integrated Care Teams for Older People: A Framework for the National Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons. University College Dublin. (opens in a new window)https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ncps/older-people/resources/eclectic-framework-report-and-step-by-step-guide.pdf

ECLECTIC Project Published Papers

O’Donnell, D., Davies, C., Devaney, C. et al. How can interprofessional collaboration be fostered and sustained in team-based care integration for older people in community settings? A realist evidence synthesis. Syst Rev 14, 117 (2025). (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-02862-8

S Hammoud, A De Brún, C Davies, C Green, M O'Shea, C Devaney, D Lang, H Whitty, G Hughes, D O'Donnell, Building collaborative capacity: Professional role awareness in integrated older adult care teams, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 35, Issue Supplement_4, October 2025, ckaf161.1059, (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf161.1059

Deirdre O'Donnell, Carmel Davies, Catherine Devaney, Apolonia Radomska, Marie O'Shea, Gráinne O'Donoghue, Aoife De Brún, Sarah Donnelly, Helen Whitty, Patrick John Harnett, Deirdre Lang, Emer Ahern, Éidín Ní Shé, The Contexts and Resources that Support Effective Interprofessional Collaboration in Community Care for Older People: A Realist Synthesis, Age and Ageing, Volume 53, Issue Supplement_4, September 2024, afae178.006, (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afae178.006

O'Donnell D, Ahern E, Davies C et al. A realist process evaluation of an intervention to promote competencies in interprofessional collaboration among interdisciplinary integrated care teams for older people: Study protocol. [version 1; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. HRB Open Res 2023, 6:49 ((opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13729.1)

O’Donnell, D., O’Donoghue, G., Ní Shé, É., O’Shea, M., & Donnelly, S. (2022). Developing competence in interprofessional collaboration within integrated care teams for older people in the Republic of Ireland: A starter kit. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 37(3), 480–490. (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2022.2075332

D O'Donnell, H Whitty, C Devaney, E Ahern, A Radomska, PJ Harnett, 151 A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Interprofessional Collaboration Within Integrated Care Teams Operating Under The National Integrated Care Programme For Older Persons, Age and Ageing, Volume 51, Issue Supplement_3, November 2022, afac218.128, (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afac218.128

G O'Donoghue, É N Shé, M O'Shea, S Donnelly, D O'Donnell, 63 Using Co-Design To Develop A Core Competency Framework For Interprofessional Collaboration Within Integrated Care Teams For Older People In Ireland, Age and Ageing, Volume 50, Issue Supplement_3, November 2021, Pages i1–i8, (opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afab216.63

Anjara SG, Ní Shé É, O'Shea M et al. Embedding collective leadership to foster collaborative inter-professional working in the care of older people (ECLECTIC): Study protocol [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. HRB Open Res 2020, 3:8 ((opens in a new window)https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13004.1)

ECLECTIC Project Posters

Keep the links to the existing posters (1-4) but can we add in the title of the Poster on the button to link – See the titles below. Can we also add three new posters (5-7) below (PDFs in file).

Poster One:

An exploratory cross-sectional study of interprofessional collaboration within community specialist care teams integrating care for older people

Poster Two:

Interventions to promote effective interprofessional collaboration that improves care outcomes for older people: a realist synthesis of the evidence

Poster Three:

A cross-sectional exploration of the generative mechanisms and potential staff outcomes associated with interprofessional collaboration within community specialist teams for older people in Ireland

Poster Four:

What works and why for interprofessional collaboration in older people’s care integration: realist evidence synthesis

Poster Five:

Understanding Roles: How working in integrated care teams for older adults shapes professional role clarity

Poster Six:

Communication and information sharing in care integration for older people: exploring the experiences of Irish community specialist integrated care teams