Primary Health Care Leadership: Enhancing Collaboration between Primary Care and Public Health

Despite the recent increase in research activity to study multidisciplinary collaboration in primary healthcare teams, there has been a paucity of research focusing on building collaborative relationships between primary care (Family Health Teams, Family Health Networks, and Community Health Centres) and public health. Nurses, including public health nurses, family practice nurses and nurse practitioners, are in a strong position to act as leaders in building collaboration between primary care and public health to meet local community health needs.

Despite the recent increase in research activity to study multidisciplinary collaboration in primary healthcare teams, there has been a paucity of research focusing on building collaborative relationships between primary care (Family Health Teams, Family Health Networks, and Community Health Centres) and public health. Nurses, including public health nurses, family practice nurses and nurse practitioners, are in a strong position to act as leaders in building collaboration between primary care and public health to meet local community health needs. The goals of this program of research are to investigate:

• structures and processes required to build successful collaborations between public health and primary care (at interactional, organizational and systemic levels);
• roles nurses (public health nurses, nurse practitioners, and family practice nurses) play in building local collaborations between primary care and public health;
• factors that influence nurses’ capacity to foster such collaborations; and
• the extent of collaborative partnerships that currently exist in Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia.

Similar questions have been identified nationally as being critical areas to address in health services research. Collaboration between health sectors can lead to a stronger understanding of the communities which they serve. This can lead to a more responsive and comprehensive delivery of health services. Currently, there is little known about the extent that collaborations exist between primary care and public health. Through the involvement of multi-disciplinary professionals, who are policy makers, decision-makers, front line staff, and community members as participants in the research, we will gain a broad understanding of the context of collaborative environments. By understanding the structures and processes that support and hinder the development and maintenance of successful collaborations and the extent to which and in what settings they exist, this program of research will answer how to create and enhance future primary care and public health collaborations.