Interprofessional primary care: indispensable for family physicians yet invisible to older patients

ABSTRACT

There is growing consensus that interprofessional primary care is key to delivering timely, coordinated, and comprehensive care, especially in the older patient population who often live with complex and chronic needs. Despite significant investments in reforming health systems toward interprofessional primary care, there is a paucity of evidence describing the importance of interprofessional primary care for older patients and physicians. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to understand the use and utility of interprofessional primary care for older patients and family physicians from the perspective of different stakeholders within primary care in Ontario, Canada. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews (including 16 older patients, six family physicians, three primary care managers) and a focus group with 13 patient representatives were conducted. Our study found that while the benefits of interprofessional primary care teams for family physicians were clearly emphasized, stakeholders consistently reported that older patients often appeared to be unaware of the presence of, or roles played by, non-physician healthcare professionals in their clinic. Better transparency and education regarding available services and roles of different care providers may allow for more optimal use of interprofessional family medicine clinics by patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Content analysis
• focus groups
• interviews
• qualitative method
• interprofessional research
• interdisciplinary

Acknowledgments

This work was funded through Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships and the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (2014-2019) (CNA-137794). The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging is supported by a grant from the CIHR with funding from several partners. We also wish to thank Michelle Zenko, professional transcriber, for her diligent and detailed work in transcribing the patient and focus group as well as Juliette Champoux-Pellegrin and Mary Henein for their assistance in formatting the text and references.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute of Aging [CCNA137794].

Notes on contributors

Nadia Sourial

Nadia Sourial is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Management, Evaluation and Policy Research of the University of Montréal in Montreal, Canada.

Matthew Hacker Teper

Matthew Hacker Teper is a medical student at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in Ontario, Canada.

Geneviève Arsenault-Lapierre

Geneviève Arsenault-Lapierre is a senior research associate in the Research on the organization of healthcare services for Alzheimer's (ROSA) team in Montreal, Canada.

Kavita Mehta

Kavita Mehta is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO) in Ontario, Canada.

Kelly Kay

Kelly Kay is Executive Director of the Provincial Geriatrics Leadership in Ontario, Canada.

Isabelle Vedel

Isabelle Vedel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University and lead investigator of the ROSA team in Montreal, Canada.