Planning for interprofessional change in primary health care: exploring the use of the Interprofessional Resource Centre

Abstract

Importance

Resources to support change are needed for solo practitioners who are transitioning to family health teams (FHTs) which involve multiple health disciplines working together to provide team-based care.

Objective

The purpose of this project was: (1) to explore the use of an online resource, the Interprofessional Resource Centre (IRC), when planning for interprofessional change and; (2) to explore the experience of planning interprofessional change.

Design and setting

Six FHTs organized under the structure of one Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN) in Ontario, Canada.

Intervention

Participants in six FHTs were directed to the IRC to support planning interprofessional change. In addition, two of the six FHTs participated in pilot site meetings with investigators where they received in-person support to apply the information from the IRC to an interprofessional activity.

Results

Pilot site participants reported the IRC was useful for planning, but they cited lack of time to use it as a key barrier. When planning for interprofessional change, providers experienced challenges with physician buy-in and team dynamics. As a strategy for change, providers would like to learn from other FHTs who have experienced success with interprofessional change; at the LHIN level, they saw a need for more educational opportunities. Participation was found to be low among those only receiving online support.

Conclusion and relevance

Based on the results of the study, it appears that online resource centers do have some value in knowledge translation when combined with in-person meetings. In exploring the planning of interprofessional change in primary health care teams, it was found that buy-in with physicians is a key challenge.

Keywords:

• online
• knowledge transfer
• family health teams
• team-based care
• supporting change
• buy-in

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the administrators and providers in the family health teams who participated and generously gave their input, as well as the feedback received from the anonymous reviewers. This project received funding support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) KTB 114398.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.