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BackgroundInterdisciplinary team work is increasingly prevalent, supported by policies and practices that bring care closer to the patient and challenge traditional professional boundaries. To date, there has been a great deal of emphasis on the processes of team work, and in some cases, outcomes.MethodThis study draws on two sources of knowledge to identify the attributes of a good interdisciplinary team; a published systematic review of the literature on interdisciplinary team work, and the perceptions of over 253 staff from 11 community rehabilitation and intermediate care teams in the UK. These data sources were merged using qualitative content analysis to arrive at a framework that identifies characteristics and proposes ten competencies that support effective interdisciplinary team work.ResultsTen characteristics underpinning effective interdisciplinary team work were identified: positive leadership and management attributes; communication strategies and structures; personal rewards, training and development; appropriate resources and procedures; appropriate skill mix; supportive team climate; individual characteristics that support interdisciplinary team work; clarity of vision; quality and outcomes of care; and respecting and understanding roles.ConclusionsWe propose competency statements that an effective interdisciplinary team functioning at a high level should demonstrate.

Summary This paper describes the necessity for, and the development of an assessment for dysarthria. The short easy assessment described has been found to have acceptable inter‐rater reliability, even between Speech Therapists who have not been trained to use the test. The clinical value of the test has been proven with its use with more than a hundred patients. However, there are several areas that point to the necessity of further research.

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Stroke is commonly perceived to be.a disease which causes physical disability, and its effect upon communication and language functioning is often overlooked. For example, while stroke is probably the most frequent single cause of impaired communication in adult life,' few community based surveys have investigated the size or natural history of the problem. Further, -there are often problems in interpreting the terminology used: in one survey2 " aphasia" was differentiated from " dysphasia", which was considered to include " difficulty in speech, slurred, bulbar or dysarthric speech". In this paper the term "aphasia" includes "dysphasia" and refers to language disturbance of all grades of severity. The term "dysarthria" refers to abnormal function confined to the articulatory muscles and innervation. Apraxia of speech, which may also cause misarticulation, was not specifically studied but if there was any associated language disturbance then this was studied.Various studies suggest that 21 %-24% of patients admitted to hospital with acute stroke are

This paper describes preliminary studies on a screening test for aphasia which takes 3-10 minutes to complete and which is suitable for use by general practitioners, junior medical staff and other non-specialists. Data are presented to show that it is a reliable, valid assessment. Using cut-off values derived from normal people, the test is sensitive, but its specificity is limited by such associated factors as hemianopia. Using cut-off values derived from patients known to have aphasia, its specificity is improved. An abnormal result needs to be interpreted in the light of all available clinical information. The test should help identify patients with linguistic disturbance.International Rehabilitation Medicine 1986.8:166-170.

Background: There has been a rapid growth in recent years of available technologies for

. (2016). The association between delays in screening for and assessing dysphagia after acute stroke, and the risk of stroke-associated pneumonia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. https://doi