Article review on primary health care

Each and every member of the team concurred with the views expressed in the article in regard to multi-disciplinary team care and primary health care networks. A multi-disciplinary team approach to care will ensure that all patients have timely and equal access to the right type and level of care which would reflect in improved patient outcomes. It was pointed out that the multidisciplinary care approach would in particular come in handy in rural areas which have perpetual shortages of medical staff. However, there were reservations on the feasibility of such an approach to care in light of the fact that practitioners in the health field tend to look down upon and treat other practitioners with contempt. Moreover, it was felt that the concept of shared responsibility would probably not augur well with the current practices in the health care settings. Equal access to funding, open regular communication about the patient’s condition and training of all team members on multidisciplinary care are three aspects which are pre-requisite if the multidisciplinary team approach to care is to be successful.
The move towards more consumer-focused multidisciplinary care requires that input from all disciplines as well as that from the consumer be incorporated in the planning, governance and subsequent evaluation of services rendered. Such integration would improve the effectiveness of multidisciplinary care, communication among team members and minimize the fragmentation in the provision of health care.
Primary health care networks create opportunities for joint education and hence an increase in knowledge of the roles of the various team members which eventually reflects in more efficiency in team work and referral systems. Moreover they provide the opportunity to introduce future health care workers to community based multidisciplinary care.