Interdisciplinary Teams in Providing Health Care
Interdisciplinary Teams in Providing Health Care
you’ve examined the rationale, form, and function of an interdisciplinary team in providing health care. As you’ve seen, members of an interdisciplinary team may come from a variety of professional backgrounds, depending on the needs of the patient, the setting in which care is provided, and the resources available.
To prepare:
For this Discussion, review the case study on pages 2–4 of your course text.
Post a comprehensive response to the following:
- Name two additional types of health professionals that could have been involved in the case.
- Provide a rationale as to why they should have been included.
- In your own words, explain why that professional is important to an interdisciplinary team and what you believe he or she would contribute.
resources
Freshman, B., Rubino, L., & Reid Chassiakos, Y. (Eds.). (2010). Collaboration across disciplines in health care. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
- Chapter 1, “The Healthcare Team Members: Who Are They and What Do They Do?”
This chapter introduces the concept of an interdisciplinary health care team, the professions that contribute, and the roles and functions of each. Additionally, a case study of a successful interdisciplinary approach is presented.
- Chapter 6, “Interprofessional Collaboration: A Nursing Perspective”
The important difference between interdisciplinary collaboration and interprofessional collaboration is examined in this chapter. There is also a discussion on how different professions view collaboration differently. Critical principles for interprofessional collaboration are offered.
Clements, D., Dault, M., & Priest, A. (2007). Effective teamwork in healthcare: Research and reality. HealthcarePapers, 7 (Sp), 26-34. Retrieved from http://www.longwoods.com/content/18669
Download the PDF and read pages 26-30.
This article analyzes the results of research in Canada on the effectiveness of health care teamwork and the conditions in which this approach can succeed. Interprofessional collaboration is identified as both a process that promotes teamwork and an end in itself.
Colonna, J. (2005). Why teams matter in healthcare: 7 characteristics define successful teams. Healthcare Purchasing News, 29(7), 70-71.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Although the composition of interdisciplinary teams often changes, there are key characteristics most successful teams all share. This article identifies and discusses those key characteristics, including a clear sense of goals, clear roles and responsibilities, open communication, productive disagreement, and others.
Ellingson, L. (2002). I. Introduction to the field of health communication. Communication Research Trends, 21(3), 3-4.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Ellingson, L. (2002). II. Theoretical approaches. Communication Research Trends, 21(3), 4.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Ellingson, L. (2002). III. Collaboration in health care. Communication Research Trends, 21(3), 5-7.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Ellingson, L. (2002). IV. Health care teams. Communication Research Trends, 21(3), 7-11.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
The emerging field of health communication research is introduced and its theoretical approaches are discussed in this series of four brief articles. The importance of health communication is examined, particularly as it relates to collaboration between and among various practitioners in an age of increasing specialization.
Ithaca College Gerontology Institute. (2003). Interdisciplinary health care: Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary-What’s the difference? Retrieved from http://www.ithaca.edu/ahgitt/rochester/Interdisciplinary.htm
This article describes the important differences between the terms interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, particularly as these terms are used in relation to health care providers.
Buchbinder, S. B., & Thompson, J. M. (2007). Teamwork. In S. H. Buchbinder and N. H. Shanks (Eds.), Introduction to health care management (pp. 303-322). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
This chapter analyzes the nature of teamwork in health care organizations. The authors describe the distinguishing characteristics of a team and discuss challenges, trends, costs, and benefits of teams and teamwork in health care settings.
Katzenbach, J., & Smith, D. (2004). The discipline of teams. In Harvard Business Review on teams that succeed (pp. 1-25). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Effective multidisciplinary health care teams are composed of members trained in a number of disciplines working collaboratively for the benefit of the patient. In this chapter, members of health care teams are considered by professional background, role, and function.
Meads, G., & Ashcroft, J. (2005). Collaboration. In The case for interprofessional collaboration in health and social care (pp. 15-35). Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing.
This chapter explores the nature of collaboration, including its components and expressions. There is also a discussion on how to analyze collaboration, particularly in health or social care settings. The benefits of collaboration are enumerated as are its implications for key relationships.
University of Iowa Health Care. (2010). Patient and guest services: Your health care team. Retrieved from http://www.uihealthcare.org/PatientandGuestServices/
This website page identifies and describes various members of a typical health care team at an academic medical center in Iowa.
How to Survive Virtual Group Work. (2010) [Online] eLearners.com. Retrieved from: http://www.elearners.com/online-education-resources/online-learning/how-to-survive-virtual-group-work/ (Accessed 23 November 2010)
