Methodology of a Social Network Survey in Primary Care Practices With Medical Home Attributes

To provide an overview of the methods of a social network survey used to collect data in primary care practices on team structures, compositions, and social networks (eg, support, communication).

A cross-sectional sociometric social network survey in 23 primary care practices with medical home attributes in New York and Pennsylvania was conducted. All primary care providers (ie, physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants), clinical staff (eg, registered nurses, social workers, and nutritionists, etc), and administrative staff (eg, practice managers, office assistants, etc) in each practice were eligible to participate in the online survey. All practice members received an online survey asking them to identify who they work with during a typical week. Data were collected about the characteristics of respondent's relationships with each identified team member, perceived team effectiveness, and respondent-level job satisfaction, intent to leave, burnout, and demographics. We calculated the overall response rate and compared it among practices with different practice sizes and respondent roles using chi-square tests and independent samples t-tests.

The survey yielded an average response rate of 51.8%, with a range between 21.8% and 82.3% across the practices. Three hundred ninety-four primary care providers, 222 clinical staff, and 173 administrative staff responded to the survey. Respondents (n = 792) were more likely to be from smaller practices and be administrative or clinical staff rather than providers.

This social network survey of primary care providers and staff used innovative approaches to collect data on team structures beyond traditional methods. Despite declining response rates in healthcare provider surveys, our survey reached high response rates in several practices. Future studies should find ways to engage primary care providers and staff in survey research.