A Review of Collaborative Healthcare Worldwide

Abstract

　　This article calls attention to the importance of collaborative care in international settings and highlights advances in models of collaborative care that are emerging globally. As our understanding of physiology, nuclear medicine, bio-technology, neuroscience, and brain anatomy continues to increase, healthcare continues to move towards a systemic approach to physical and mental health. This epistemological shift has resulted in increased provider collaboration, and the formation of interdisciplinary healthcare organizations. Due to this shift in healthcare delivery, as well as a client base that is continually becoming more diverse and well informed, an understanding of collaborative health care in international settings is paramount to the goal of continued proliferation of effective and integrated mental health care. We propose that collaborative care is an effective way for providers to meet the physical and mental healthcare needs of patients across cultures. We further propose categorizing collaborative care models on a continuum of the degree of physical and functional integration. We provide international examples of each model, and a direction for future research.