Interprofessional collaborative teams (IPT) are a common practice model in healthcare, yet partnerships between non-medical teams and healthcare providers, such as police-nurse partnerships, are extremely rare. Given the rise in mental health and substance use-related incidents and increasing homelessness, traditional police responses often fall short. Nurses are also encountering a rising number of individuals with mental health or substance use disorders in the emergency department. To address these gaps, the Nurse-Police Teams (NPTs) in Windsor, Ontario, funded by the Ontario Government's Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) Enhancement Grant, leverage police services alongside nursing expertise to deliver community-based care. This project will identify areas of strength, impact, and utility of this interdisciplinary dyad addressing the needs of equity-deserving groups in Windsor-Essex.

Analyzing the partnership of NPTs in the Windsor-Essex community will allow for the documentation of their experiences in providing community-based care to equity-desercing groups, generate recommendations for implementing similar services in other communities, and offer guidance on strengthening and sustaining such initiatives. These insights are expected to inform policy and practice, enhancing the effectiveness of interdisciplinary collaborations in addressing complex social and health issues.