Team-based care is the vision for the future of primary care in British Columbia.
Team-based models of primary healthcare are being developed and implemented across BC. Within these provincial efforts to establish and enhance team-based care (TBC), there is a critical need to support this transformation in BC with education, research, evaluation, and knowledge translation. While the provincial focus has become team-based care, there has been recognition that health professionals need to be supported to shift from (a) their siloed ways of delivering health services to (b) the optimal design for and functioning of highly effective healthcare teams—delivering seamless care that sustainably, equitably, and cost-effectively meets the needs of patients and communities. How do we get from (a) to (b)?
Taking an appreciative, action-oriented approach, the TBC @ UBC Network builds on previous work to occupy a bridging role in this TBC inquiry > evidence > action space. The network engages health professionals, health leaders, academics, policymakers, funding agencies, patients, and communities throughout BC. It enables these partners to discuss and learn from each other about the on-the-ground needs, opportunities, and challenges regarding TBC design, research/evidence, pedagogy, policy, and integration. The network aims to create a generative space that brings people, needs, and ideas into relationship—a process which begins by asking questions.
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The goals of the TBC @ UBC Network are to:
- Create a supportive, interdisciplinary collaborative that elevates primary healthcare research and education
- Convene key partners and facilitate dialogue to identify operational issues and research and education priorities
- Identify ways to support the development and implementation of team-based care models through research and education
- Develop recommendations for education programs to better incorporate team-based care into curricula
- Support and add value to provincial initiatives;
In 2018, UBC Health conducted a province-wide needs assessment and environmental scan for the Ministry of Health around the support needs of existing and emerging primary healthcare teams. The report provided initial insights into the types of questions that remain unanswered, the types of operational issues that need to be addressed, and the types of supports needed to ensure successful implementation of team-based primary healthcare in BC, both in terms of service delivery and education. Since the report, UBC Health engaged a variety of partners through a TBC @ UBC collaborative and facilitated work around how UBC could contribute to the team-based primary care transformation within BC. The collaborative has evolved into the TBC @ UBC Network, which will leverage and build on TBC activities and research completed or underway.
The TBC @ UBC Network will contribute to provincial efforts to advance team-based care by informing the development and growth of pedagogy and the generation of knowledge and evidence related to TBC. By facilitating meaningful interdisciplinary, province-wide collaboration, the TBC @ UBC Network will consider pressing questions related to:
- Models of primary healthcare and promising practices
- Tools and supports for team development and practice improvement
- Innovative models of collaborative health education
- Creating a conduit for research questions from the community to support evidence-based decision-making in the transition to team-based healthcare in BC
Supported by UBC Health, the TBC @ UBC Network aims to create meaningful partnerships among academia, government, health authorities, health professionals, and patients/community to support the integration of evidence into practice and facilitate the successful implementation of innovative models of primary healthcare and health education. The network will provide opportunities for engagement among people who are:
- Working ‘on the ground’ to affect health systems transformation and implement team-based models of care;
- Developing and implementing the educational supports needed to ensure the success of such initiatives;
- Engaged in research related to TBC and its influence on the broader social determinants of health, healthy communities, and community engagement
The network is co-facilitated by:
- Christie Newton, Associate Professor and Associate Head, Education and Engagement, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
- Lee Yeates, Clinical Associate Professor, Midwifery Program, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, UBC and Co-Lead, Rural Obstetrics Network, Rural Coordination Centre of BC
The TBC @ UBC Network Collaborative Space is a hub for members to add their thoughts and ideas on what the next steps for the network should be and how to mobilize action. Members can post their comments in the columns with questions, reply to the comments of other members, and/or click the ‘thumbs up’ to indicate agreement with members' posts.
The collaborative space also includes links to network event recordings and session summaries.
What are you doing to promote team-based care? What questions do you have? What ideas do you have to share?
The TBC @ UBC Network offers a forum for those thinking about and working towards team-based care to engage in meaningful dialogue. UBC Health is inviting people to participate as event panelists to disseminate learnings, stimulate dialogue, and explore emerging questions in their work to advance team-based practice, education, and/or research. Being a TBC @ UBC Network panelist gives you the opportunity to share your ideas, build connections, and contribute to the conversation about questions and ideas important for team-based care in BC.
Panelists will be asked to:
- Propose a topic and convene a panel of speakers, in collaboration with UBC Health
- Attend a preparatory meeting
- Prepare and deliver a presentation*
- Facilitate small group discussions in breakout rooms*
- Participate in a large group discussion*
*Network sessions are online via Zoom.
To support panelists, UBC Health will:
- Organize session logistics
- Structure sessions and develop an agenda
- Develop guiding questions for breakout groups
- Provide funding to enable panelists to participate and prepare
- Promote events
TBC @ UBC Network events link to other opportunities in BC to promote ideas and resources for team-based care. Together, UBC Health, Doctors of BC, Health Safety BC, and UBC’s Innovation Support Unit aim to offer a responsive and integrated approach to learning on team-based care. This includes showcasing team-based care resources, tools, models, and experiences through Team Up! webinars and podcasts, alongside opportunity for dialogue and exchange of ideas on those topic areas during TBC @ UBC Network events.
Submit an expression of interest
UBC Health is accepting expressions of interest to be a panelist at a TBC @ UBC Network event in 2023/24. Complete the Expression of Interest and email it to Aoife Tierney, Project Coordinator, UBC Health at aoife.tierney@ubc.ca.
Expressions of interest will be reviewed as they come in, and UBC Health will connect with potential participants to discuss proposals in more detail.
Visit our partners and resources page for more information.