SHARED BORDERS - ACHIEVING THE GOALS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY PATIENT-CARE

Definitions and components of interdisciplinary care, as well as means of implementing, reasons for adopting, and barriers to interdisciplin ary care, are presented. A health care discipline is an area of knowle dge and research that is critical to patient care. In multidisciplinar y practice, each member of a clinical group practices with an awarenes s and tolerance of other disciplines. In interdisciplinary practice, m embers of a team actively coordinate care across disciplines. In an id eal interdisciplinary health care team, decisions are made by consensu s and each discipline has an equal opportunity for input into decision s. To make the transition from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary practice, all disciplines, rather than representing freestanding silos , must have shared borders that represent a common professional intere st and knowledge base. Such a practice model will lead to an increased level of trust among professions and a deeper level of understanding about what each profession can contribute. Barriers to interdisciplina ry practice include historical factors such as different philosophies of practice and professional training, logistics of team implementatio n, and resource limitation. To facilitate interdisciplinary practice, pharmacists must be competent, understand what a team is, provide lead ership, be pre pared to help develop drug therapy outcome objectives, project self-confidence, and demonstrate a readiness for interdiscipli nary practice. Interdisciplinary care must be applied in a cost-effect ive way. Interdisciplinary patient care must be taught in professional schools and postgraduate training programs. Interdisciplinary patient care requires common values, a common vision, and an understanding of teamwork with the ultimate goal of serving the patient with wisdom.