Integrating Interprofessional Trainees into a Complex Care Program for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: Effects on...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare delivery systems
• Medical education
• Public health

Background:

• Vulnerable populations require specialized interprofessional ambulatory care.
• Training health professionals in interprofessional settings is vital for workforce competence.
• Impacts of integrating trainees into care for homeless Veterans are not well-documented.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effect of adding interprofessional trainees to an ambulatory clinic for homeless Veterans.
• To evaluate the impact on medical and mental health service utilization.

Main Methods:

• Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis of clinic-level data.
• Compared a training continuity clinic with three similar VA homeless clinics without training programs.
• Data collected from October 2015 to September 2018, encompassing 37,671 patient-months.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in post-intervention utilization for primary care, emergency department, or mental health visits.
• No significant changes observed in psychiatric or medical hospitalizations.
• The addition of trainees did not adversely affect care utilization metrics.

Conclusions:

• Integrating interprofessional trainees into ambulatory care for homeless Veterans does not negatively impact service utilization.
• Team-based care models are effective for vulnerable patients and provide valuable educational experiences.
• This approach builds health professional capacity to serve populations with complex needs.