Integrated care (IC) improves patient outcomes, patient and provider experiences and healthcare costs. Still, education and interprofessional experiential training in IC is limited. There is a lack of studies examining current practices, perceptions and barriers to implementing IC training. Specifically, no studies to date assess training and practice across multiple health professions and roles (student/faculty/clinicians) within an academic medical institution or university, a gap this study sought to address.
This cross-sectional study examined current clinical and training practices, attitudes about IC and barriers to IC practice, learning and training through a survey distributed to faculty, clinicians and students (n = 220) in nine departments of health professions within a large academic health system.
The majority of respondents reported that activities promoting IC occur often, including consultation with other professions in patient care settings, incorporation of IC concepts into teachings and interprofessional learning opportunities. Respondents endorsed willingness to practice IC, high perceived benefits of IC on patient outcomes and cultural benefits of IC. The most strongly endorsed barriers were related to resources and organizational culture. Knowledge barriers were not strongly endorsed.
In the most comprehensive study of attitudes toward IC to date, clinicians, students and faculty alike endorsed favorable attitudes about IC, supporting the acceptability of incorporating IC education and training into curricula. IC is seen as enhancing experiences, competence and professional marketability of providers-in-training, indicating it is a desired focus of future practice for many healthcare providers.
