Key Success Factors
and Pitfalls
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Primary Care Toolkit for Family Physicians
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Negotiating the Overlap of Responsibilities
In order for interdisciplinary collaborative care providers working within new or revised models of family practice or primary care groups to be both effective and efficient, it is crucial that these individuals be prepared to negotiate areas of overlap in their professional responsibilities such that their unique education, training and experience is neither lost nor lead to a loss of role identity or role confusion. This may require that each provider not isolate his or her levels of professional activity to traditionally defined tasks but rather reconsider the allocation of tasks within and among team members.
Role negotiation may range from the provision of specific services to patients, to other clinical management roles and responsibilities within the family practice or primary care group. Simply co-locating a broader array of health services under a geographic umbrella with no respect for the value and importance that each provider brings to the primary care team will not ensure successful transition to an interdisciplinary collaborative primary care model.