The given report provides four main recommendations for training and educating healthcare professionals in order to match with the ever-evolving needs of the Americans. The first point revolves around experiential learning and interprofessional delivery for integrating behavioral health, oral health, and primary care. The second point focuses on creating a supportive environment, whereas the third recommendation addresses community-based settings. The last suggestion encourages developing repositories with agencies in order to assess and evaluate outcomes.
The first piece of recommendation outlined by the report is based on an integrated approach through experiential learning. It states that interprofessional delivery of primary care, oral health, and behavioral health services are cost-efficient and result in better outcomes (HRSA, 2019). Therefore, one should proceed with training that induces a beneficial combination of essential services in the form of teams. In addition, future professionals should be educated together by experiential learning, where each specialist is familiar with working and cooperating with another. The design of the content of general medical training in the training site should be carried out using the principles of interdisciplinary method and validity based on an integrative approach.
The second point of recommendation focuses on facilitating the integration process by creating a supportive environment. It is stated that the key reason is the fact that the overall plan is multi-layered and multi-faceted (HRSA, 2019). In addition, the conditions should involve real-life cases, which can induce the emergence of change agents, who will improve the current system by removing and eliminating a wide range of barriers. This is necessary for the purposeful formation of essential integrative knowledge in future health experts, as well as professionally significant personal qualities. The meaning lies in the systemic structuring and integration of the content of related academic disciplines of the general professional cycle, which have similarities in the object, subject, teaching goals, and conceptual and terminological apparatus.
The third point addresses the essential aspect of the integrated approach, which is community-based learning. The reasoning is based on a piece of evidence, where medical experts practice in close proximity to their training sites (HRSA, 2019). In addition, it is stated that community doctors perform better and engage in fewer conflicts compared to hospital ones (Nevo et al., 2019). Thus, conducting education with the involvement of community-based settings will ensure that the interprofessional team will remain intact after training is completed. The fourth recommendation is based on the creation of a repository of best practices in collaboration with various agencies. The main reason is that each element, such as mental, physical, and oral services, are funded differently, which is why it is critical to make the stream equitable (HRSA, 2019). Therefore, there needs to be a federal repository for making the system more resilient and stable.
In conclusion, the report provides four recommendations for advancing the idea of integrated care. The initial point addresses interprofessional delivery and experiential learning, where primary care, oral health, and behavioral health are provided in conjunction. The next piece outlines the critical importance of building a supportive environment where interprofessional collaboration is encouraged. The third recommendation revolves around community-based learning, where community experts generally perform better than dispersed ones. The fourth point focuses on creating a federal repository in order to make a more unified and reliable source of funding. In addition, it promotes better outcomes by acknowledging the complex nature of the concept.
References
HRSA. (2019). Integrated care: Meeting America’s 21st century healthcare training needs [PDF document]. Web.
Nevo, T., Peleg, R., Kaplan, D. M., & Freud, T. (2019). Manifestations of verbal and physical violence towards doctors: A comparison between hospital and community doctors. BMC Health Services Research, 19(888), 1-7.