MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORKING

1. MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORKING

2. The multi-disciplinary approach is characterised by each discipline within the team working towards discipline-related goals. Team members work within the boundaries of their professional practice: progress is formally discussed at team meetings, effective communication is considered vital and the client’s role is minimal. Whitlock 1999

3. Supporting • Informing • Empowering • Retaining rights • Regaining rights • Partnership Walton M 1995

4. ADVANTAGES OF CROSS-SKILLING Ensures continuity in the absence of the specialist Allows effective use of resources Prevents delay of access to some services Reinforces therapists’ treatments by all team members Reduces the number of people to whom the patient must relate Enhances an holistic approach to meeting individual goals and care packages DISADVANTAGES OF CROSS-SKILLING Dilutes specialist skills Limits equity for patients in accessing specialist services for intensive rather than usual care Erodes professional identity Vaughan B, Steiner A & Hanford L 1999

5. What leads more than anything to a rehabilitation approach is a constant closeness to the actual problems of the deprived and disabled in everyday life, requiring not only intellectual understanding but emotional understanding of the character of the problems. Dembo T, Diller L, Gordon WA, Leviton G & Sherr RL 1973