The collaboration between family medicine groups and the community organizations
of the region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
principal Investigators
Marie-Eve Poitras,
Louis Gagnon,
Y oan Vaillancourt
Funding
$ 5,000
Discretionary funds of the associate dean of the University of Sherbrooke
Study setting
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Themes
Interprofessional collaboration, primary care, FMG, community organizations, services
Why?
Chronic illnesses secondary to the aging of the population, psychiatric illnesses and psychosocial problems are constantly increasing. Many services are available to the population of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ). Given the complex and multidimensional needs of the population, the objective would be to arrive at a practice of shared care and services. It is therefore important for front-line care professionals to collaborate more with stakeholders from various community organizations. However, a problem has been noted in terms of communication between the two sectors of activity and the pooling of interventions offered. In 2019-2020, we conducted three focus groups with 24 community organizations and 6 primary care service managers to determine the current picture of collaboration between the community and medical sectors. You can learn more about the results of this workjust here.
What are our goals?
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Validate the interest of front-line professionals in the development of a partnership with community organizations
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Develop mechanisms for partners to get to know each other better
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Develop an effective and accessible collaboration process
Ultimately, we want to improve access to services and the quality of life of the population by allowing them to have the right professional at the right time according to their needs.
How?
This project consists of participatory research, with a descriptive bill of quantities. The study population includes physicians, nurse clinicians and specialized practitioners, and social workers working in FMGs, as well as community workers. Four workshops will be held to identify the challenges of collaboration, take stock of barriers and facilitators, prioritize work targets and co-build an ideal world.
What results are we aiming for?
Thanks to this project, we will co-construct with the stakeholders an intervention model that can be deployed in FMGs in order to improve communication and collaboration between the health professionals working there and the community organizations. We will also be able to issue recommendations to decision-makers to enhance this collaboration.