Economic Soundness and Interdisciplinary Teamwork in the UK

Abstract

This article is chiefly concerned with the question is nursing, particularly oncology nursing, both improved and more affordable when persons are honored in the manner suggested by Rosemarie Rizzo Parse's humanbecoming school of thought and when nurses are respected members of multidisciplinary teams? The authors offer a theoretical article on the evolution of cancer multidisciplinary teams and examine current thinking on teamwork in the hospital setting.

The Financial Case for Patient-Centered Interdisciplinary Teams in the United Kingdom

“…According to Gunson and Hart (2014) in the UK interdisciplinary teams are more likely to provide quality healthcare and be cost-effective for persons with severe and complicated medical problems, such as those with head and neck cancer, when healthcare professionals are working together collegially and effectively. This case is sensible in light of the growing awareness that fragmented healthcare is both inefficient and unsafe.…”

“…It is the opinion of the author of this introduction that the most effective healthcare teams are teams of individuals who share power and decision-making, are free of professional discipline-based hierarchy, and are open to diverse viewpoints about the nature of patients’ concerns and issues, as well as the presenting medical problem. Gunson and Hart (2014) point to the case of the UK’s Camp Bastion Trauma Clinic in Afghanistan to describe how teams relate to each other in situations of great intensity. When a trauma team receives multiple serious casualties they have to decide how to use scarce resources (Sowell, 2015).…”

“…The reader of this introduction and the Gunson and Hart (2014) article needs to keep in mind that the humanbecoming school of thought (2014) is from a different paradigm than mainstream economics which assumes linear causality and is chiefly outcome-focused (Sowell, 2015). In Parse’s (2014) view humanuniverse is everchanging and unpredictable.…”