In this task I will explain how multi-disciplinary working can improve the provision of health service services.

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M4

M4- In this task I will explain how multi-disciplinary working can improve the provision of health service services.

What is multidisciplinary?

Multidisciplinary teams consist of staff from several different professional backgrounds that have different areas of expertise. These teams are able to respond to clients who require the help of more than one kind of professional. Multidisciplinary teams are often discussed in the same context as joint working, interagency work and partnership working. These teams sometimes consist of:

  • General practitioners
  • Practice nurses
  • Community health nurses
  • Allied health professionals (may be a mix of state funded community health and private professionals) such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, psychologists, social workers, podiatrists and Aboriginal Health Workers
  • Health educators - such as diabetes educators

How to work in a multi-disciplinary team

Multi-disciplinary teams can work brilliantly together or be totally dysfunctional. It’s hardly surprising that when you assemble a diverse group of people with varied skills into a team, things don’t always go smoothly. But multi-professional teams are a fact of life in social work, with integration between professions set to get ever closer.

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Define roles and boundaries

Members of a multi-professional team including social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, and teachers will have different training, ways of working and culture. Social care, health and education are all sectors which have undergone huge change, restructuring and reorganisation. Evolving roles and boundaries consequently affect how professionals work together and can cause confusion. Everyone needs clarity on their own role and to be clear about what other team members do.

Team members must learn to value each other’s contributions, look at how the group communicates and be aware of making judgements and holding prejudices.
Emotions and egos should not get ...

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This is a good essay with some excellent definitions and descriptions of multi discipline teams. It could be enhanced by the writer trying to say why and explaining in a little more depth. ***