Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) has announced the launch of its first peer-reviewed scientific journal, the Journal of Integrated Primary Care (JIPC). This new journal aims to grow the evidence base related to integrated primary care professional education, practice, and intervention by covering a wide range of topics that include primary care, internal medicine, family medicine, nursing, behavioral health, pharmacy, physical therapy, pediatrics, health education, healthcare administration, and social work.
JIPC, an open-access online journal, was spearheaded by editors-in-chief Robert A. DiTomasso, PhD, ABPP, dean of the School of Professional and Applied Psychology, and Michelle R. Lent, PhD, associate professor, and is designed to highlight the work of PCOM's integrated primary care researchers as well as researchers around the world. The journal will accept original research papers, reviews, meta-analyses, and case studies of interest to primary care professionals at graduate schools, academic medical centers, public health institutes, health systems, clinics, in private practice, and working at health-related community organizations.
DiTomasso and Lent hope that JIPC will spotlight the incredible advantages of integrated care and add to the growing evidence base in support of this approach. The targeted readership includes primary care practitioners and academicians from diverse disciplines, applied clinical researchers, health profession educators, and healthcare administrators. The first issue of JIPC will be published this fall and follow a quarterly schedule. Each issue is expected to contain four to five observational and experimental studies of integrated care treatment approaches and best practices related to collaborative delivery models.
PCOM's integrated care approach allows for the consideration of essential social, behavioral, and environmental educational domains that can impact both the physical and mental health of patients. The high patient volume and limited time availability of many primary care physicians have expanded treatment services through the integration of a variety of healthcare professionals across disciplines, including physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners, pharmacists, psychologists and behavioral health consultants, peer specialists, and social workers.
JIPC aims to provide primary care providers with a better understanding of the benefits of an integrated care approach, which is patient-centered and can be both clinically and cost-effective. JIPC's launch also coincides with market factors that enable primary care providers to more effectively treat the “whole” patient, including the expanding inclusion of allied health services within primary care and the documented cost savings associated with integrating physical and behavioral health within primary care.
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