Why did we do the study?
System navigation is commonly used in primary care to help connect patients to more services and other health care settings with an overall goal of improving patient care. Within Health TAPESTRY, there are opportunities for both the primary care team and trained community volunteers to engage in some form of system navigation. Specifically, we looked at what programs primary care providers suggested that volunteers refer clients to, what programs volunteers said they passed along, what clients reported they received information about, and what clients reported they actually attended or used. We looked at these various stops on the process of referrals to community-based health and social services to better understand the differences between what was suggested and what was most meaningful to clients (or at least most used).
What did we find?
Exercise activities (e.g., exercise or walking programs) were the most frequent category that primary care providers suggested, and the most common type of program volunteers gave information about. However, it was only the third most common program that clients said they attended.
Clients reported that they were most likely to receive information on chronic medical conditions and diet/nutrition. Neither of these categories were reported very often by primary care providers or volunteers. We believe that these categories were likely handled internally by the clinical sites and therefore were not included in our analysis (since this analysis included only those suggestions that passed between the clinical team and volunteers).
Lastly, independence at home (e.g., fall prevention classes, snow removal) was the second most common category that both the primary care provider and volunteers reported giving information to clients about, however clients rarely reported using those programs/services.
What do our findings mean?
Overall, both the clients and primary care providers reported learning about many programs and services they were not aware of prior to Health TAPESTRY. Many clients commented that even though they did not necessarily use the programs they learned about; the information would be helpful in the future. The healthcare providers also reflected that their ability to connect patients to programs and their understanding of barriers to access were positively impacted. These kinds of benefits will support better system integration, and highlight a current gap.
Full article found here:
Gaber J, Di Pelino S, Datta J, Talat S, Browne T, Marentette-Brown S, Bomze S, Forsyth P, Oliver D, Carr T and Mangin D. Community Volunteers and Primary Care Providers Supporting Older Adults in System Navigation: A Mixed Methods Study. International Journal of Integrated Care. 2022;22(1):18. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.5978