Split-care patients and their caregivers: how collaborative is collaborative care?
This study assessed the experiences of patients receiving split-care treatment, focusing on communication between the two treating professionals and its impact on patient satisfaction. Studies have documented that for more than 20% of patients, no communication occurs between providers, and the present study provides further data. Split-care patients completed a 23-item questionnaire on SurveyMonkey via Mechanical Turk, a crowd-sourcing Website, assessing patients' split-care experiences, including whether their providers had communicated and the impact of communication on patients' satisfaction with treatment. Of respondents who knew if their providers communicated, 30% reported that no communication occurred. Similarly, 30% and 36% of respondents were never asked by their psychotherapist or psychopharmacologist, respectively, for permission to speak to the other professional. Non-communication yielded significantly lower patient satisfaction with treatment. This study replicates the high frequency of non-communication between providers of split care and has great implications for the impact of communication on treatment compliance and outcome.
*Clinical Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx; †Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York; and ‡Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York City, NY.
Rachel Levine
RL
Baruch
Bella
B
Vishnevsky
Thomas
T
Kalman
D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D055815:Young Adult