Designing a framework for the delivery of collaborative musculoskeletal care involving chiropractors and physicians in community-based primary care.

Strategies have been proposed to facilitate collaboration between conventional health care providers in primary care. However, little is known if these are transferable to CAM health care providers. We designed a qualitative study to articulate a conceptual model to advance the interprofessional collaboration between physicians and chiropractors within community-based primary care in Ontario, Canada. Data obtained from 16 key informants and eight focus groups, with a range of professionals including chiropractors, physicians and academia as well as patients, informed the development our framework. The framework included processed-based factors that clustered under three categories: communication, practice parameters, and service delivery; presumed necessary to address challenges and optimize benefits of collaboration. The development of this framework may help understand and promote interprofessional collaborative practice and contribute to the understanding of how CAM may participate in mainstream healthcare.