Interprofessional Collaboration of Integrative Health & Medicine Professionals in Private Practice and in the Delivery of Care to the Underserved

Background

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC), defined as the efforts of different professions working together to positively impact healthcare, can improve healthcare processes and outcomes.

The principles and processes of IPC may be of particular importance to integrative health and medicine (IHM) providers, who have historically practiced in relative isolation from each other and from mainstream medicine. Furthermore, IHM providers may be integrated into collaborative teams that can help improve access to and quality of care to medically underserved communities (MUC). A better understanding of the current state of IPC among IHM professionals in private practice and in community health facilities is needed. The purpose of the proposed project is to investigate the extent and aspects of IPC and its relation to MUC occurring in a sample of IHM providers from the five licensed disciplines.

Specific Aims/Objectives

This project will pursue three specific aims:

i)       Document and characterize the current state of IPC among a group of IHM providers in private practice / community health settings, including the facilitators and obstacles to IPC

ii)      Explore the extent that these clinicians are providing community care to underserved populations, and whether a) IPC influences their willingness and capacity to provide such care, and/or b) being engaged in providing community care influences the degree of IPC these clinicians experience 

iii)    Identify factors that could strengthen and expand a) the amount and quality of IPC among these providers, and b) the structures and processes for IHM providers to contribute to community healthcare

Methods

Qualitative health services study using semi-structured interviews of providers from the five licensed IHM disciplines: acupuncture and Oriental medicine, chiropractic medicine, direct entry midwifery, massage therapy and naturopathic medicine.  Interview transcripts will be coded and analyzed using NVivo (QSR International). Two sets of deductive (hypothesis-testing) analyses will be conducted, as well as a series of inductive, exploratory analyses. 

Potential Impact

A better understanding of collaborative care processes between IHM providers, and between IHM and conventional providers, can identify strategies to improve this collaboration.  Also since IPC may be both a means to providing care for MUC, or a consequence of providing care to MUC, the results of this work can be informative to increasing access to underserved communities and subsequently improving population health.