Home Care/Physician Partnerships in the Community: A Canadian Model in Development

Abstract

This article describes the Canadian experience related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of the primary care relationship between community-based physicians and nurses whereby collaboration is the underlying operational basis for their partnerships. Twenty-three family physicians were paired with 21 home health care nurses (RNs) who were responsible for the care and case management of communitydwelling seniors. The evolution of the collaborative partnership is revealed through a quality improvement framework addressing several objectives over a period of 2 years. Essential components of collaboration are identified and the impacts of collaborative practice on health care professionals and consumers are explored.