Achieving person-centred care through a team-based care ecosystem approach.

The implementation of Person-Centred Care (PCC) by primary care teams is complex. Framed through the Quadruple Aim, successful healthcare system redesigns result in improved health outcomes of individuals and populations, reduce costs, and ensure an engaged and productive workforce. However, how can primary care teams achieve the Quadruple Aim? This article provides a learning and performance framework to support PCC through a Team-Based Care (TBC) ecosystem approach. We developed our approach using action research to improve TBC orientations, workshops, and consultations for teams and their leaders in Urgent Primary Care Centres and Primary Care Networks in Canada. This paper provides a synthesis of our experience in the context of the relevant evidence. We aim to share our efforts and acknowledge that our experience is still ongoing and complemented by ongoing improvement activities by others in the TBC ecosystem.

Sociocultural learning in emergency medicine: a holistic examination of competence.

Objectives In the medical community of practice, the resident is situated in systems of professional and cultural activities. How diagnostic competence manifests in their sociocultural context is examined through situativity and systems theories. A holistic model is proposed that could examine diagnostic competence across micro (individual), meso (activity), and macro (cultural) systems. Methods Two short scenarios are presented resulting from observations of emergency medicine residents and their supervising physicians. These scenarios are analyzed using a trans-theoretical model of situativity and systems theories to understand how diagnostic competence manifests in practice (activity system). Results Assessment of diagnostic competence in a sociocultural context may require assessment of responses to contextual factors that seem immaterial to clinical reasoning. This information may signal that the resident also has the skills to identify appropriate information channels within an activity system and can accurately collect and prioritize clinical information within those channels. Therefore, the formal assessment of competent clinical reasoning performance, as a situated practice, may benefit from delineating how much of the context of an activity system is required to be competently managed and synthesized across the competency milestones. Conclusions The examination of diagnostic competence as a sociocultural practice can provide a unique and holistic examination of clinical reasoning performance and assessment.

Pair Scanning: Integrating the Student Sonographer Without Impacting Patient Care.

OBJECTIVES: Ultrasound departments in Canada frequently reduce patient bookings to support student training, which impacts not only patient care but also revenue generation. Therefore, physicians and employers are reluctant to host student sonographers, and educational programs struggle to find sufficient clinical placements for their students. Two research questions were investigated: (1) Can a pair scanning technique effectively integrate the student sonographer into the workplace without impacting patient volumes? (2) Does the pair scanning technique prepare the student sonographer for entry-level practice faster than traditional practice? METHODS: This research project was divided into 2 phases. The first phase used action research to develop the pair scanning protocol at a single site with a single preceptor and student. The second phase used a mixed methods approach to test the transferability of the pair scanning protocol across multiple sites, preceptors, and students. RESULTS: In phase 1, the student sonographer performed a greater number of total examinations than the rest of her cohort (who were at different placement sites), and the higher performance of independent examinations by the student sonographer under the pair scanning technique was statistically significant [H(4) = 36.297; P < .01]. In phase 2, the pair scanning group and the control group performed equally, with no statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: The pair scanning protocol is effective at integrating the student sonographer into the work flow without impacting patient care. It prepares the student sonographer for entry-level practice equally with traditional practice and may be most effective with the weak to average student.