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Volume 30 (2)
Volume 30, Issue 2, Spring 2010
J Contin Educ Health Prof 2010; 30(2)
FORUM
Electronic Communities of Practice: Guidelines From a Project
Kendall Ho, Sandra Jarvis-Selinger, Cameraon D. Norman, Linda C. Li, Tunde Olatunbosun, Cressman Celine, Anne Nguyen
A b s t r a c t
The timely incorporation of health research into the routine practice of individual health practitioners and interprofessional
teams is a widely recognized and ongoing challenge. Health professional engagement and learning is an
important cog in the wheel of knowledge translation; passive dissemination of evidence through journals and
clinical practice guidelines is inadequate when used alone as an intervention to change the practices of the health
professionals.
An evolving body of research suggests that communities of practice can be effective in facilitating the uptake of
best practices by individual health professionals and teams. Modern information technologies can extend the
boundaries and reach of these communities, forming electronic communities of practice (eCoP) that can be used
to promote intra- and interprofessional continuing professional development (CPD) and team-based, patientcentered
care. However, examples of eCoPs and examination of their characteristics are lacking in the literature.
In this paper, we discuss guidelines for developing eCoP. These guidelines will be helpful for others considering
the use of the eCoP model in interprofessional learning and practice.
Lessons for Practice
- Electronic communities of practice (eCoPs)
use modern information and communication
technologies to facilitate team-based
learning and practice.
- Implementing an electronic community of
practice (eCoP) requires careful planning
and understanding of the evolving dynamics
of the community, as well as the participatory
needs of the community members.
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