Physician perspectives of the community paramedicine at clinic (CP@clinic) and my care plan app (myCP app) for older adults

TL;DR

This study explores how a community paramedicine program and a care plan app affect family physicians' ability to care for older adults.

Contribution

The study introduces and evaluates a novel app to improve communication between paramedics, patients, and physicians.

Findings

60.5% of FPs reported improved ability to screen patients for hypertension through the CP@clinic program.

FPs found the myCP app user-friendly and useful for interprofessional communication.

Themes from interviews highlighted benefits, drawbacks, and integration challenges of the app.

Abstract

Community Paramedicine (CP) is an emerging model of care addressing health problems through non-emergency services. Little evidence exists examining the integration of an app for improved patient, CP, and family physician (FP) communication. This study investigated FP perspectives on the impact of the Community Paramedicine at Clinic (CP@clinic) program on providing patient care and the feasibility and value of a novel “My Care Plan App” (myCP app).

This retrospective mixed-methods study included an online survey and phone interviews to elucidate FPs ' perspectives on the CP@clinic program and the myCP app, respectively, between January 2021 and May 2021. FPs with patients in the CP@clinic program were recruited to participate. Survey responses were summarized using descriptive statistics, and audio recordings from the interviews thematically analyzed.

Thirty-eight FPs completed the survey and 10 FPs completed the phone interviews. 60.5% and 52.6% of FPs reported that the CP@clinic program improved their ability to further screen and diagnose patients for hypertension, respectively (in addition to their regular screening practices). The themes that emerged in the phone interviews were grouped into three topics: app benefits, drawbacks, and integration within practice. Overall, FPs described the myCP app as user-friendly and useful to improve interprofessional communication with CPs.

CP@clinic helped family physicians to screen and monitor chronic disease. The myCP app can impact health service delivery by closing the gap between primary, community, and emergency care through an eHealth information-sharing platform.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-024-02436-y.

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