Key Success Factors
and Pitfalls
Continuity & Comprehensiveness of Care
Primary Care Toolkit for Family Physicians
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Factors to Ensure Success
Appropriate Support for Interdisciplinary Care
Interdisciplinary care can be an asset to continuity and comprehensiveness of care but requires appropriate support for the time and development associated with collaboration and teams. (See module on Interdisciplinary Collaboration.) Major reviews of primary care continue to point out the benefits and need for team-based care. However, in many jurisdictions teams are currently composed of family physicians (or other medical specialists) and office assistants while nursing, nutritional, social work and other service involvement can be very limited. The cost of providing these other professional services cannot be borne by fee-for-service family physicians and further financial support is required, included in remuneration and incentives to recruit and retain appropriately trained healthcare professionals for the community. Governments should support the development and maintenance of interdisciplinary collaboration by aligning remuneration and incentives for physician compensation with desired outcomes in primary care.