The Team Based Biopsychosocial Model: Having a Clinical Ethicist as a Facilitator and a Bridge Between Teams

Abstract

The biopsychosocial model is characterized by the systematic consideration of biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery. This model opposes the biomedical model, which is the foundation of most current clinical practice. In the biomedical model, quest for evidence based medicine, the patient is reduced to molecules, genes, organelles, systems, diseases, etc. This reduction has brought great advances in medicine, but it lacks a holistic view of the person. To solve the problem, we propose an early team based approach where the primary care physician leads a group of people that can help her/him address the psychosocial issues while she/he attends to the biomedical issues. This article addresses one case where the clinical ethicist facilitating a team based biopsychosocial model for the care of a patient worked as a bridge between the primary team, the critical care team, and the psychosocial team to advance the argument that good communication among the groups can lead to a true biopsychosocial model where the collaboration of the social worker, psychologist, chaplain, ethicist and the different medical teams can improve the overall patient experience.

Collaboration between general practitioners and social workers: a scoping review

“…Joint discussions, for example, round tables and team meetings (n=21)18 28 30 32 38 42 43 45 47 52 58 60 65 67 70–72 74 80–82;…”

Models of care for people with dementia applied in practice

“…A more holistic approach reorients the current medical disease − dominated model of care that can be impersonal for those oriented to well-being that encompasses all four human dimensions: bio-psycho-social-spiritual [41]. The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery [42]. Kitwood [7] argued that when dealing with persons with dementia, psychological needs should be considered and included.…”