Appendix 1:
Descriptions for Professional Roles

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

CNA’s Primary Care Toolkit
The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) supports nurses in family practice – both family practice nurses and nurse practitioners. In order to understand how nurses can be needed to their full potential in family practice/primary care setting, the CNA has developed its Primary Care Toolkit. This Toolkit highlights role disciplines for registered nurses in primary care, the benefits of a nurse in practice, business case options, and a guide for supporting collaborative teams that include family doctors and nurses working together.

The CNA’s Primary care Toolkit is at
http://www.cna-aiic.ca/cna/practice/family/default_e.aspx .

Any feedback about the resources at this site is appreciated.

Reference materials for descriptions of professional roles and responsibilities related to individual members of a primary care team are found at http://www.eicp.ca/en/toolkit/hhr/job-desc.asp on the Enhancing Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Primary Healthcare (EICP) website:

  • Occupational Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Speech Language Pathologists
  • Nurses
  • Pharmacists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Psychologists
  • Family physicians
  • Dietitians

In addition, this site has examples and further details on how these roles are constructed and interact within an interdisciplinary primary care team related to the following primary care sites: