Challenges Experienced by Professional Nurses Regarding the Implementation of Multidisciplinary Care in Primary Healthcare Facilities, Greater Letaba Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa ^†

Background: Multidisciplinary care in primary healthcare allows teams of healthcare providers to work together towards the provision of quality patient care. The management of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and mental healthcare, requires multidisciplinary care as part of the care plan; however, the allocation of allied healthcare professionals and medical doctors is a challenge in healthcare facilities. Objective: To explore and describe the challenges experienced by professional nurses regarding the implementation of multidisciplinary care in primary healthcare facilities. Methods: A qualitative approach and exploratory, descriptive, and contextual designs were used. Purposive sampling was used to select 17 professional nurses from the chosen clinics. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. A voice recorder was used to capture the interviews, and field notes were taken for non-verbal cues. Data were thematically analyzed, where themes and sub-themes emerged. Results: The findings revealed that professional nurses face challenges in implementing multidisciplinary care in primary healthcare facilities, such as a shortage of healthcare providers, poor communication between the multidisciplinary team, financial burdens, the failure of other team members to follow the scheduled visitation dates, and altered job descriptions for professional nurses. Professional nurses reported that multidisciplinary care improves patient care quality, reduces nurses’ workloads, and reduces patient travel costs to the hospital. To ensure effective implementation of this care, they outlined key recommendations, including increasing human resources, providing adequate infrastructure to accommodate all team members, improving communication among the team, and increasing the number of days multi-disciplinary team members visit primary healthcare facilities. Conclusions: The study findings highlight the challenges that professional nurses face in multidisciplinary care in primary healthcare facilities, while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of teamwork between healthcare providers of different disciplines. The study recommends prioritizing multidisciplinary care in primary healthcare facilities to promote quality patient care in rural communities.