Engaging Primary Care Physicians in System Change

“This study suggests that when a health authority attempts to achieve whole system change in a rural primary care context, approaches based on relations of trust, flexibility, adaptability and compromise appear to have been effective in engaging physicians as partners in reform. These approaches have been aided by structures to engage physicians, approaches that allow tensions to be surfaced and a commitment to honest conversations.

This is a qualitative study in one health authority in a northern and rural area of Canada. While research like this is highly sensitive to local contexts, such as geography and climate, and to national contexts, like remuneration and employment models, there may still be elements which are transferable to other settings contemplating system change. For example, the concepts of relationship building, surfacing tensions and working with structures for engagement may be relevant to those contemplating large-scale change in primary care, including larger urban settings.”

Learn more on Engaging primary care physicians in system change – an interpretive qualitative study in a remote and rural health region in Northern British Columbia, Canada by Drs. David Snadden, Trish Reay, Neil Hanlon, & Martha MacLeod via BMJOpen.