Communication tools and strategies for interprofessional teamwork in a comprehensive pain assessment clinic in primary care

The Comprehensive Pain Assessment Clinic (CoPAC) is a grant-funded clinic embedded in a family medicine residency center providing care to an under-resourced urban population. This interprofessional clinic brings together 10 professions, including healthcare professionals, university faculty, and learners to assess patients with chronic pain. The focus of the clinic is to develop a functional and dynamic model of teamwork including communication strategies to facilitate assessment. The communication/teamwork tools and strategies include pre-visit preparation sheets, pre-visit team huddles, “teamlet” visits, handoff communication tools, care plan development, patient education, follow-up care coordination, and post-clinic debriefs, which are used for continuous quality improvement. The process model for the clinic, communication tools, and qualitative comments from learners are described. Lessons learned are discussed, including time management, intentional mentoring, interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) coordination, and implementation of best practices.