Collaboration between family physicians and home care providers

OBJECTIVE To describe perceptions of physicians and home care professionals working in local community service centres (CLSCs) with respect to collabo ration on home care follow up, and to identify conditions likely to help or hinder cooperation. DESIGN Descriptive study using individual and group interviews. SETTING. Areas served by three CLSCs in tile Quebec city region. PARTICIPANTS Forty-five general practitioners with large home care practice s and coordinators and representatives of CLSC home care teams. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Perceptions of physicians and home care professionals with respect to interprofessional cooperation on and barriers to home care follow up. RESULTS Most participants thought that cooperation would be beneficial to c omplex case management and continuity of follow-up care. In practice, howev er, cooperation is hindered by differences in medical practice and home car e team service delivery and in methods of remuneration, and lack of knowled ge of the other field of practice. CONCLUSION All participants recognized the importance of cooperation. This study did not reveal any real integration of medical and CLSC home care ser vices. Efforts must be made to identify the strategies most conducive to im proving interprofessional cooperation.