Kelly Might Wilson: Improving Physician Engagement in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Rural Emergency Departments (Under the direction of Jennifer Leeman) Introduction. Poor communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals negatively impact patient outcomes and quality of care. Due to the nature of the care environment, emergency departments (EDs) are particularly susceptible to this problem.Developing interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) is critical to managing complexity and improving ED care. One factor limiting efforts to create IPCP is the low level of physician engagement. The purpose of this project was to explore strategies implemented by rural EDs to promote physician participation in IPCP.Methods. The setting for this work was a HRSA-sponsored project, Shaping Systems, which involved a quality improvement collaborative designed to promote nursing's capacity to develop IPCP in the ED setting of four rural North Carolina hospitals. Qualitative data were collected through participation in collaborative meetings, site visits, and structured interviews with participating site team members. Data were reviewed using content analysis, coded, and analyzed across cases to identify a list of strategies and report contextual factors related to improving physician engagement.Results. Strategies for engaging physicians were found at all participating sites with similar strategies noted at multiple sites. Successful approaches were grouped into structural, logistical, interpersonal, and quality improvement related strategies. Contextual factors that iv served as barriers or facilitators of these strategies were also reported. The result is a toolkit that includes strategies as well as the contextual factors that influence their applicability and success.Discussion/Conclusion. The results of this project were shared with participating EDs both to confirm their validity and so they could learn from each other to improve physician engagement in their efforts to create IPCP and improve the quality of care in their settings.Nursing leaders and others can use this toolkit as needed to address similar issues with physician engagement in their EDs.v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS