A Curriculum for an Interprofessional Seminar on Integrated Primary Care

The goal of the American Psychological Association’s effort to develop an Interprofessional Seminar on Integrated Primary Care is to provide a course syllabus that can be used to educate, in a seminar setting, an interprofessional group of learners — from all healthcare professions — about the competencies needed to work together in a successful and integrated healthcare team. The seminar provides eight modules designed with both content and resource suggestions while encouraging local interprofessional educators the opportunity to customize their seminar to their local environment and meet local pedagogical philosophy and learning objectives. The modules include: an introduction to interprofessional education and healthcare, integrated primary care, population health, ethics, leadership, quality improvement, health care finance, and health policy and advocacy. Each module provides learning outcomes and interprofessional competencies related to the topic, a detailed outline for presentation of didactic materials and suggested classroom activities, references and resources, and suggested assessment approaches to measure learning. In addition, a section overcoming common challenges related to implementation of interprofessional education.

A set of interprofessional education and collaborative practice competencies were endorsed by APA in February 2013 that were designed to promote the development of individual and team-based competencies to work collaboratively with all other health professions. Interprofessional domain competencies that are the focus of this module will prepare all health professions’ students to collaborate effectively within the changing healthcare environment, in primary care, and in other settings and service delivery systems focused on enhancing individual, family and population health.

Primary care has been described as the “de facto” mental health system in the United States. Most of the behavioral health care in the country occurs within the course of primary care visits. Therefore, it makes sense for psychologists, and other behavioral health professionals to integrate with the professionals who are already in primary care. This module describes why it is important for behavioral health providers to integrate into primary care, how this integration has been accomplished, and some of the unique interprofessional issues to consider in primary care.

Health care professionals should be well-informed about the contributions of their own and other health professions to quality health care. Ethics are a shared, relevant concern among health care professions. Reviewing and discussing ethical issues serve as an ideal vehicle for learners from different professions to gain understanding of their own and one another’s professions. This module presents integrated interprofessional learning experiences for students to explore complex ethical dilemmas encountered in primary care practice.

Until recently, healthcare teams were often organized around a singular leader, usually one person who had the administrative authority and social capital to guide the team in its daily operations within the organization. Eventually, it became clear that this model of leadership posed critical limitations to the effectiveness and functioning of the team, and could even threaten patient safety and patient health. More recent conceptualizations of leaders and leadership in healthcare contexts have emphasized a more shared, or collaborative form of leadership, in which leadership functions move from person to person based on the expertise needed at a given situation and time, rather than position or title. This module presents contemporary models of leadership in interprofessional healthcare teams, describes typical structures and functions of leaders, and addresses some of the assumptions behind these models and considerations for their implementation.

Quality improvement (QI) consists of systematic (i.e., well planned, data driven) and continuous actions (in daily work) that lead to measurable improvements in care and health outcomes for individuals and populations. This module aims to provide the context and resources to develop the foundational QI competencies deemed central to effective participation on improvement teams.

Payment and reimbursement for healthcare services are a large part of healthcare financing and can significantly impact how clinical services are provided within an integrated primary care setting and other medical settings. This module describes the historical context that gave rise to the current healthcare finance structure, models of health care financing, and the impact that various financial models have on the ability to provide financially sustainable team-based care to patients in an integrated primary care setting.

Interprofessional healthcare is expected to be a key component of our quality healthcare system no matter what the political and funding issues might be. This module defines health policy and political advocacy and the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to become a competent member of the health care workforce prepared to advocate for quality health care at the Federal, State and local level. Political advocacy activities for health service providers are provided throughout this module. The importance of Federal, State and local advocacy for each profession is discussed as well as advocacy for interprofessional, team-based, integrated care throughout the health care system.