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,
Yoan Vaillancourt,
Janie Thibeault,
Anaëlle Morin
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 diseases related to an aging population, psychiatric illnesses, and psychosocial issues are steadily increasing. Multiple services are available to the population in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ) region. Given the complex and multidimensional needs of the population, the goal is to move toward a model of shared care and services. It is therefore important for professionals working in Family Medicine Groups (FMGs) to strengthen their collaboration with community care workers in local community organizations. However, challenges have been observed in communication between these two sectors and in the coordination and integration of their respective services.
In 2019–2020, we conducted three focus groups with 24 community organizations and six primary care service managers to assess the current state of intersectoral collaboration between the community and medical sectors. You can learn more about the results of this work right here.
What are our goals?
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To assess the interest of primary care professionals in developing a partnership with community organizations (to be completed before moving on to objectives 2 and 3).
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To develop mechanisms that allow partners (primary care and community) to get to know each other better.
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To develop an effective and accessible intersectoral collaboration process.
Ultimately, our goal is to improve access to services and enhance the population's quality of life by ensuring they receive the right resources at the right time according to their needs.
How?
This project is based on participatory research using a descriptive qualitative design. Four workshops were conducted using an Appreciative Inquiry Process (Definition, Discovery, Dream, and Design) to identify collaboration challenges, assess barriers and facilitators, prioritize areas for action, and co-create an ideal future. The study population included family physicians, registered nurses, psychologists, quality improvement agents, social workers working in FMGs, patients, and community care workers.
Results obtained
From April to November 2022, four co-creation workshops were held with the participation of a registered nurse, a social worker, three family physicians, a psychologist, a quality improvement agent, five community care workers, and a patient partner (n=13). Participants came from two Community Development Corporations and four Family Medicine Groups (FMGs). Progress, obstacles, facilitators, and changes throughout the process were documented using the Appreciative Inquiry Process through the following steps: Contextualization (Definition), Appreciating what is (Discovery), Imagining what could be (Dream), and Innovating what will be (Design).
Following the workshops, three innovation priorities were identified:
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Developing mutual understanding between FMG’s professionals and community care workers from community organizations
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Building a common entry point
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Educating the population about community services and those offered in FMGs
The various participants agree that these priorities must be implemented to achieve the goal of improving intersectoral collaboration between Family Medicine Groups (FMGs) and community organizations.
Thanks to this project, we co-created with stakeholders an intervention model that can be deployed in FMGs and community organizations to enhance communication and intersectoral collaboration between FMG’s professionals and community care workers. We also provided recommendations to the different management teams to support the strengthening of this intersectoral collaboration.
