FEATURE PATIENT CARE A TRUE APPROACH TO COLLABORATION A look at interdisciplinary vs. multidisciplinary clinics for patient care and satisfaction M BY DR. BRETT GUIST, COLBY BUCCI AND DR. CHRIS OSWALD practice, it may lead to a silo-based ap-proach for the patient. This silo-based approach could involve the patient visit-ing several different practitioners for the same complaint and recounting their entire history repeatedly to receive a full complement of the necessary therapy. While this may undoubtedly be benefi-cial and result in good therapeutic and clinical outcomes, it lacks an authentic, collaborative feel. For health care professionals, it is vital to establish trust with their patients as well as their health care network. Com-munication between professionals is essential so that they can deliver the highest standard of care and not be concerned about who “owns the pa-tient.” True interprofessional collabora-tion breaks the stigma surrounding the stealing of patients and focuses on opti-mizing the shared patient experience on behalf of all health care professionals involved. When a patient enters a multidiscipli-nary clinic, they essentially have two options: 1. Each therapist they will see for their complaint operates independently, and it is up to the patient to com-municate the diagnosis and plan of management between practitioners 2. The clinic operates using a truly interdisciplinary model, where the therapists will collaborate on behalf of the patient. In our professional experience, offer-ing an interdisciplinary model can pro-vide improved clinical outcomes. Being truly interdisciplinary, rather than multi-disciplinary, involves a synthesis of ap-proaches to achieve a coordinated and coherent whole (Choi and Pak, 2006). This approach relies heavily on team-work in healthcare. Nancarrow et al. (2013) define teamwork in healthcare as “a dynamic process involving two or more health professionals with comple-mentary backgrounds and skills, sharing common health goals and exercising concerted physical and mental effort in assessing, planning, or evaluating patient care. This teamwork is accomplished through interdependent collaboration, open communication and shared deci-sion-making. In turn, this generates value-added patient, organizational and staff outcomes.” This definition allows for individuality amongst health care professionals, but emphasizes communication and prior-itizes patient care through collaboration. cndoctor.ca any clinics offer multidisciplinary approaches to care, where patients can utilize a variety of services from numer-ous health care pro-fessionals. While offering a variety of services may be attractive to therapists and patients alike, these independent therapists may not be providing contin-uous patient experience. The patient experience is what keeps them coming back to your clinic, along with the excellent care they receive. Prakash (2010) listed patient satisfaction as a useful indicator of success in medi-cal practice. While patient satisfaction encompasses a variety of factors, high levels of satisfaction equate with higher levels of patient retention and improved clinical outcomes. Some clinics operate with several in-dependent contractors who rent space in the clinic to provide their professional services. While this is a solid business DR. BRETT GUIST BHSc, MS, DC, CSCS, graduated from CMCC in 2015. Brett has been involved in research projects and has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. He continues to be involved in academia by lecturing at CMCC in orthopedics, diagnosis, chiropractic technique, and rehabilitation. COLBY BUCCI BA (KIN ), MScPT, is a managing partner of The Centre for Fitness Health and Performance in Toronto, Ontario. He believes in a whole system treatment approach, consisting of manual therapy, education, lifestyle advice and exercise prescription. DR. CHRIS OSWALD BSc, DC, owns and operates The Centre for Fitness Health and Performance in Toronto, Ontario. Dr. Oswald is also the founder and creator of MuscleCare, a product line ranging from topical ointments, to ergonomic pillows, to back supports. 10 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor May 2020
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