Learning and Caring in Communities of Practice: Using Relationships and Collective Learning to Improve Primary Care for Patients with Multimorbidity | Annals of Family Medicine

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A communal and iterative strategy of care improvement within a community of practice.
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Meeting the challenge of interprofessional care through case-based reflective learning in communities of practice.
Adapted with permission from Posel N, Fleiszer D, Faremo S. Moving toward the development of interprofessional e-cases. Slice of Life Conference, 18^th International Meeting for Medical Multimedia Developers and Educators. University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 4–8, 2006.

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The Article in Brief

Learning and Caring in Communities of Practice: Using Relationships and Collective Learning to Improve Primary Care for Patients With Multimorbidity

Hassan Soubhi , and colleagues

Background Caring for patients with multiple chronic health conditions is complex and challenging. In this article, researchers propose a primary care practice model for caring for patients with multiple chronic illnesses.

What This Study Found In the proposed model, practices form open, constructive communities of practice in which they define common goals and concrete care plans and engage in reflective cased-based learning and practice. The model is based on (1) the importance of relationships among clinicians in delivering effective patient-centered care and (2) the flexibility gained from constant assessment and case-based learning.

Implications

Caring for patients with multiple chronic conditions is an opportunity to improve on existing care models based on ongoing learning and continual evaluation. Research is needed to test the added value of communities of practice in primary care.