“I work in a transplant clinic. We have nurses, pharmacists, social workers, the physicians and the physiotherapists. All of us have a different thing that we bring to the table. The pharmacist is doing medication review. They’re well acquainted with drug, drug interactions, probably better than the physicians, quite honestly. And they help as we make medical decisions to inform our choices of therapeutics that we might want to use. On another hand, we have nursing who is talking with the patients, and many times the patient will feel more comfortable talking with the nurse, the pharmacist, the social worker, than they will be talking with the physician. So they’ll bring things out that need to be addressed. But it’s only through this communication with multiple partners that we’re actually truly finding out where the patient’s needs aren’t being met. And as a team, we can discuss this in our action plan where we develop a plan to meet all of those patient needs that they’ve identified when it comes to interprofessional collaboration and learning.”
Peter Nickerson, physician
By the end of this chapter, learners will be able to recognize the necessity of interdependent relationships for team functioning, while exploring optimal conditions for success.
