It starts with a strong foundation: constructing collaborative interprofessional teams in primary health care

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how team members experience and enact interprofessional teamwork in primary health care (PHC). Fifty-three participants (from eight teams), members of the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO), were interviewed; interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The data analyses used an iterative process with individual and team analysis. Findings revealed components that comprise the foundation and pillars of collaborative interprofessional teamwork in PHC. First, participants described a shared philosophsy of teamwork with six elements: values, vision, and mission; collaboration; communication; trust; respect and team members that ‘fit.’ Second, findings revealed three ‘pillars.’ The first pillar, leadership, included the elements of specific leadership attributes, such as leaders encouraging teamwork, mitigating conflict, and facilitating change. In the second pillar, participants described three elements of team building: formal and informal team building activities plus how these activities benefited both the team and patient care. The last pillar, optimizing scope of practice, included the elements of recognizing, appreciating, utilizing, and expanding team members’ scope of practice. While each component and their concomitant elements can be enacted individually, collectively applying all elements produces collaborative interprofessional teamwork in primary health care.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary health care
• interprofessional teams
• collaboration
• qualitative

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) through its Applied Health Research Question (AHRQ) program within the INSPIRE2-PHC program. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the MOHLTC. The authors wish to thank the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario for C. Mulder and L. Belsito’s in-kind support, the teams who participated in this study, and Catherine MacDonald for project management and initial coding.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) through its Applied Health Research Question (AHRQ) program within the INSPIRE2-PHC program.

Notes on contributors

Judith Belle Brown

Judith Belle Brown, PhD, is a Professor and Chair of MClSc and PhD in Family Medicine, the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University.

Carol Mulder

Carol Mulder, DBA, is affiliated with the Centre for Studies in Primary Care, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University.

Rebecca E. Clark

Rebecca E. Clark, MSc, was a Research Assistant at the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University.

Laura Belsito

Laura Belsito, RD, MAN, was the Clinical Knowledge Translation and Exchange Specialist, at the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario.

Cathy Thorpe

Cathy Thorpe, MA, is the Research Associate – Manager at the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University.