ABSTRACT
Practice facilitation has proven to be effective in improving the quality of primary care. A practice facilitator is a health professional, usually external to the practice, who regularly visits the practice to provide support in change management that targets improvements in the delivery of care. Our environmental scan shows that several initiatives across Canada utilize practice facilitation as a quality improvement method; however, many are conducted in isolation as there is a lack of coordinated effort, knowledge translation and dissemination in this field across the country. We recommend that investments be made in capacity building, knowledge exchange and facilitator training, and that partnership building be considered a priority in this field.
Subject(s)
Family Practice/organization & administration , Quality Improvement/organization & administration , Canada , Family Practice/standards , Family Practice/trends , Forecasting , Humans , Primary Health Care/organization & administration , Primary Health Care/standards , Primary Health Care/trends , Quality Improvement/trendsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to describe outreach facilitation as an effective method of assisting and supporting primary care practices to improve processes and delivery of care. METHODS: We spent 4 years working with 83 practices in Eastern Ontario, Canada, on the Improved Delivery of Cardiovascular Care through the Outreach Facilitation program. RESULTS: Primary care practices, even if highly motivated, face multiple challenges when providing quality patient care. Outreach facilitation can be an effective method of assisting and supporting practices to make the changes necessary to improve processes and delivery of care. Multiple jurisdictions use outreach facilitation for system redesign, improved efficiencies, and advanced access. CONCLUSIONS: The development and implementation of quality improvement programs using practice facilitation can be challenging. Our research team has learned valuable lessons in developing tools, finding resources, and assisting practices to reach their quality improvement goals. These lessons can lead to improved experiences for the practices and overall improved outcomes for the patients they serve.
