Team-based Primary Care Evaluation

The shift towards team-based care in British Columbia’s (BC) primary care system is designed to increase capacity, attachment, access, and provide more person-centred care and improve health outcomes. The evaluation will be conducted by the ISU and is supported and funded by the Ministry of Health.

The evaluation seeks to understand the transition to team-based primary care in BC. We are collaborating with mature high functioning teams to explore perceived changes across dimensions and aspects of the TEAM framework: patient experience, provider experience, team function, capacity, access, and attachment.

The evaluation will be conducted in two rounds (Figure 1). Approximately 15 clinics/health centres will be recruited for each round (a total of 30). A range of clinic and health centre models that align with BC’s primary care strategy will be included. The evaluation will try to capture diversity across the province including teams from different geographic locations, with different types of professionals, and both rural and urban setting.

The evaluation will consist of three modes of data collection with participating clinics/health centres (Figure 2):

1. Patient Survey – The clinic will invite patients to complete a survey to assess aspects of patient experience including patient perceptions of access, person-centred care, and team function.
2. Team Survey – All team members (healthcare providers and staff) will be invited to complete an online survey to assess provider/staff experience and team function.
3. Clinic Report – An online clinic report will be completed once per clinic/health centre to understand several elements of the clinic including attachment numbers, access, and team capacity.

Data from each clinic/health centre will be summarized and shared with the clinic/health centre team in a constructive workshop and report. Anonymized data from each round will be combined in to a provincial summary and shared with leadership and decision makers.

Do you want to learn about how your team is working together and contribute to team-based primary care policy in BC? Find out more here!