Transcription
Common Viewpoints
Explore the attitudes and beliefs about collaboration in more depth for each of the above viewpoints. Which one resonates most with your thinking? Which one are you?
Cautious Collaborators
Agree with
- We need better consciousness-raising about what collaborations might be possible and would be beneficial, and also reflect on the collaborations that we already have.
- There are turf protection issues. Public health wants to make sure that they don’t get swallowed up by primary care issues. They want to deal with issues at a population level as opposed to an individual health level.
- Everybody feels that they are at capacity and there’s no room for anything more such as working on a collaboration.
- Partners need to consistently engage in dialogue to resolve issues, such as the patients they are both involved in, for successful collaboration.
- Strategies for successful collaboration are focused at the local level, such as consistent dialogue with partners, starting small, and having a memorandum of understanding.
Disagree with
- Having a clear mandate from the top would enable public health and primary care and health system collaboration.
- For better communication there has to be availability of electronic communication mechanisms between public health and primary care sectors (e.g. email listservs to share information).
- There is a lack of communication between governmental agencies, since integration of high tech communications is still in its infancy.
System Driven Collaborator
Agree with
- There is the need for having a clear mandate from the top to enable public health, primary care, and the rest of the health system to effectively work together.
- People in different branches in the Ministry/Ministries have to really believe in collaboration, support it, and write policies to have organizations work together.
- Leadership at the Ministry level is important to “make it happen.”
- What is needed are models like community health centres which are globally funded, so the more we move into this kind of model public health and primary care, collaborations might become richer.
Disagree with
- Differing mandates are a barrier to collaboration. Public health can’t provide individual care because they are population health-based and group-based. For example, public health is working on healthy food policies and trying to work with schools.
- Unions or funding differences between public health and primary care are a particular challenge to collaboration.
Neutral
- Statements that were perceived in the neutral range by this group reflected organizational and interactional level ideas. System level themes were the most influential for public health and primary care collaboration.
Competent Isolationists
Agree with
- It is necessary for public health and primary care sectors to spend time to make sure that both parties clearly understand the differences between their roles.
- Physicians, nurses and social workers will not see the value in collaboration because they don’t share courses during their professional education.
- It is important for people to use the skill sets that they have rather than learn new ones, and to use skill sets others have in collaborations.
- Different mandates are barriers to collaboration and public health cannot provide individual care, because they are population health-based and group-based.
- Collaboration won’t work if people haven’t got the stable and sustainable funding to get it established, evaluated, and carry it on”.
Disagree with
- There is evidence on the benefits of collaboration related to long term health benefits for individuals in the population.
- There is value in having memorandums of understanding in collaborations, people in Ministry branches writing policies instructing public health and primary care to work together, or having public health staff presence in a primary care setting.
- Being physically co-located or consistently engaging in dialogue would be helpful.