FOSTERING EFFECTIVE TEAM COOPERATION AND COMMUNICATION - DEVELOPING COMMUNITY STANDARDS WITHIN INTERDISCIPLINARY COGNITIVE REHABILITATION SETTINGS

Cognitive rehabilitation is a promising and necessary component of int erdisciplinary treatment for brain injured patients, but it remains an area that lacks universal definitions, empirically validated construc ts, or standards of practice. This situation leads to difficulties for interdisciplinary teams in cognitive rehabilitation settings, since d efinitions, conceptions, and labels of cognitive constructs can differ across team members and disciplines. In order to implement effective cognitive rehabilitation in a given setting, it is necessary to establ ish a set of 'community standards' that will compensate for the lack o f universal standards in the broader cognitive rehabilitation landscap e. These community standards will improve team functioning by facilita ting communication between disciplines and identifying the team's pref erred treatment strategies. Such a project was undertaken by a task fo rce at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, Rusk Re habilitation Center. The process of establishing such a task force and the need for establishing community standards are described and outli ned. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.