1159121_Sheehan,J_2021.pdf (1.88 MB)
Methods and effectiveness of communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners: a systematic narrative review
journal contribution
posted on 2021-04-20, 22:18 authored by Jacinta SheehanJacinta Sheehan, K Laver, Anoopama Bhopti, M Rahja, T Usherwood, L Clemson, Natasha LanninNatasha LanninBackground: There is a compelling rationale that effective communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners may improve the quality and continuity of patient care. It is not known which methods of communication to use, nor how effectively they facilitate the transition of care when a patient is discharged home from hospital. Our systematic review aims to investigate the methods and effectiveness of communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners. Methods: Systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies with narrative synthesis. Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycInfo and Proquest Nursing and Allied Health Sources were searched from January 2003 until January 2020 for studies that examined hospital-based allied health professionals communicating with community-based primary care practi-tioners. Risk of bias in the different study designs was appraised using recognized tools and a content analysis conducted of the methodologies used. Results: From the located 12,281 papers (duplicates removed), 24 studies met the inclusion criteria with hospital allied health communicating in some form with primary care practitioners. While none of the included studies specifically investigated the methods or effectiveness of communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners, 12 of the 24 studies described processes that addressed components of their discharge communication. Four enablers to effective communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners were identified: multidisciplinary care plans, patient and caregiver involvement, health information technology and a designated person for follow up/care management. Conclusion: There is currently no “gold standard” method or measure of communication between hospital allied health and primary care practitioners. There is an urgent need to develop and evaluate multidisciplinary communication with enhanced information technologies to improve collaboration across care settings and facilitate the continuity of integrated people-centered care.
Funding
This work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (JS). JS was sup-ported by La Trobe University (PhD scholarship); KL was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellowship; NAL was supported by a Future Leader Fellowship (102055) from the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
History
Publication Date
2021-02-22Journal
Journal of Multidisciplinary HealthcareVolume
14Pagination
493-511Publisher
Dove PressISSN
1178-2390Rights Statement
The Author reserves all moral rights over the deposited text and must be credited if any re-use occurs. Documents deposited in OPAL are the Open Access versions of outputs published elsewhere. Changes resulting from the publishing process may therefore not be reflected in this document. The final published version may be obtained via the publisher’s DOI. Please note that additional copyright and access restrictions may apply to the published version.Publisher DOI
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