Arranging generalism in the 2020 primary care team

Abstract

The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) final report and the draft National Primary Health Care Strategy state a preference for multidisciplinary primary care to improve chronic disease management, promote prevention and help address workforce shortages. The patients most likely to require multidisciplinary care will be those with complex and multiple health conditions. Although team care arrangements have become a focus, less is known about what the future health care needs of patients with complex and multiple illnesses are. We also have little information about what these patients value in their primary care and how to arrange it to meet their needs. If multidisciplinary teams are to be implemented in the Australian primary care setting, how much of the holistic and fundamentally generalist values might be lost? Defining features of generalists are their knowledge of patients over time and use of patients' life stories and context balanced with technical information to provide holistic care. The study's aim was to explore patients' needs and to identify if the features of generalism have relevance for the development of multidisciplinary team care in the Australian primary care setting. Show more