In 2011 the Student Run Clinic (SRC) implemented a 13-question patient satisfaction survey to explore patient opinions of team-based care in comparison to their customary experience with individual providers. The SRC collected patient feedback in order to understand barriers to IP care and to guide them in expanding IP team-based care in other outpatient settings.

Findings from the 67 completed surveys demonstrate a 95% patient satisfaction rate with the care received. 72% of subjects expressed a preference to be seen by the care team over an individual provider.

One of the limitations of this survey is that it did not provide the subjects with an opportunity to express the reasons for their preference. The SRC plans to include narrative responses in future surveys to better understand patients’ rationale for their preferences. The SRC expects that these responses will help guide adjustments in the protocol to further increase patient satisfaction.

With a new managed care clinic opening in Spring 2017, we hope to collect survey data from a new patient population and identify differences between the two clinic populations that will further guide adjustments to the SRC protocol and deepen understanding of patient preferences.

Interprofessional healthcare teams deliver team-based care with a high level of patient satisfaction. Although the numbers are small, there appears to be a trend for female patients and patients with a college education to be more likely to prefer care by an individual provider over team-based care. This SRC model can help prepare students to address future health care needs by teaching them collaborative IP team-based care. Due to limited data, continued research on patient satisfaction and attitudes toward team-based interprofessional care is warranted.