Leveraging Team-Based Care Strengths in Canada and the USA: Opportunities to Learn About, From and With Each Other

One of the underlying themes of CAB is to explore how Canadians and Americans can learn about, from and with each other to improve team-based care in our collective communities. We know that collaborative, interprofessional, data-driven, healthcare teams deliver more patient-responsive care that results in improved patient and health systems outcomes.1,2  Despite this, practitioners across both countries traverse different local and national policy landscapes that shape care and may help or hinder team-based care.

In this plenary session we will describe key characteristics and structures of the American and Canadian healthcare systems, including how they enable or impede implementation of team-based care. We will illustrate different exemplars of interprofessional practice and discuss their application in various healthcare settings and sectors in both Canada and the USA.  As successful examples and lessons learned are shared, so too will ‘myths’ about the American and Canadian healthcare systems be dispelled.  Notably, we will outline various facilitators to successful implementation of interprofessional teamwork and identify strategies to overcome challenges related to the wise practices necessary for effective and efficient team-based care.