Table 2 Themes and their Implications for Training Healthcare Students to Provide Team-Based Behavioral Health Care Services in Primary Care Settings

Encountering difficulties acclimating to the agency and interprofessional model

• Educate primary care providers (PCPs) about the purpose of the interprofessional team (i.e., to assist patients struggling with mental health and psychosocial problems) and the benefits of interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP).

• Provide student opportunities for meeting PCPs and other agency staff members who can serve as referral sources.

• Delineate student responsibilities and assignments from the outset, including whether students will have access to the electronic medical record.

• Advocate for students to agency personnel, so they have patient contacts on a daily basis and engage in team-based learning regularly.

• Bolster student confidence in their ability to transition from conducting typical 45-min psychotherapy sessions to brief, targeted counseling sessions.

Learning to facilitate team cohesion by engaging in interprofessional communication and learning from others

• Emphasize the importance of having student teams engage in warm handoffs and huddles even in agencies where full integration does not exist.

• Model effective interprofessional communication skills for students regardless of the agency’s level of integration.

• Highlight the role of interpersonal communication in facilitating team cohesion.

• Provide opportunities for educators, clinical faculty, and agency supervisors to process their experiences with student teams as a method for improving interprofessional learning as a whole.

Contending with role confusion and missed opportunities for interprofessional collaboration

• Work closely with agency supervisors to orient students, so they clearly understand their professional role within the agency.

• Normalize role confusion and help students understand how their roles are similar and different.

• Train student teams members to recognize and address the communication barriers preventing the team from functioning properly.

• Encourage students to engage in interprofessional communication and integrated treatment planning even in situations where only one student sees the patient.

• Conduct weekly meetings with students to identify team strengths and solutions for addressing communication barriers.

Managing the impacts of COVID-19 on interprofessional learning: Uncertainty, frustration and disappointment

• Help students anticipate the impact of a potential public health emergency on patient care and team-based patient care.

• Develop a contingency plan that allows for students to quickly transition from providing sessions in-person to virtually.

• Devote significant amount of time to teaching students how to incorporate ICP strategies in virtual environments.

• Ensure there is a self-care or wellness component incorporated into student training that prepares them to manage the emotional effects of practicing during a public health emergency.