Factors that influence collaboration in the delivery of primary health care services: A case study of Quesnel.

The purpose of the research is to examine the factors that prohibit and facilitate vertical and horizontal collaboration in the delivery of primary health care services in Quesnel, a small community in north-central British Columbia. Although barriers and facilitators to such collaboration have been identified in Primary Health Care Transition Fund projects (PHCTF) undertaken in urban settings, little research has been done to examine the factors at play in rural and northern communities like Quesnel, British Columbia. The four categories of barriers and facilitators to interdisciplinary collaboration examined include: financing/funding, regulation/liability, electronic health records and health human resources. The resulting conclusion is an expansion of the categories to include barriers and facilitators unique to northern communities: the geographic location of a community, community member participation, the importance of patients and the dependency on physicians.