How team-based are rural or underserved clinics where AHEC scholars train?

Background

Interprofessional collaborative practice is an important feature of delivering high quality patient-centered care. Understanding what students learn during their clinical rotations about how healthcare teams function, particularly in rural and underserved settings is important for addressing health disparities in these populations.

Purpose

To determine the extent to which healthcare teams located in rural or underserved clinics that host AHEC Scholars engage in teamwork and team-based care.

Methods

The 15-item Assessment for Collaborative Environments (ACE-15) instrument, measuring interprofessional teamwork and team cohesion was administered to team members at 17 rural or underserved clinics and demographic information was collected.

Results

Several significant differences in mean ACE-15 scores were found among team types, clinic types and settings: community-based clinics scored higher compared to their university-based counterparts and clinics in rural settings scored higher compared to those in urban settings. Primary care-based teams scored higher compared to non-primary care-based teams.

Conclusions

Training students within healthcare teams across multiple settings and locations is paramount to their preparation for interprofessional work.