NewsLine - September 2011 - (Page 28)

continued from previous page The Transdisciplinary Team Model: Providing ‘That 15% More’ By Laura Koehler, LCSW, ACHP-SW T he interdisciplinary team has always been a hallmark of hospice care. From hospice’s beginning, we have always known that dying well requires a multipronged approach involving nurses, doctors, social workers, chaplains, volunteers and others. The founder of the modern hospice movement, Dame Cicely Saunders—who was a doctor, nurse and social worker— exemplified this concept. As the second-oldest hospice in the country, and the first on the West Coast, Hospice By The Bay (formerly Hospice of Marin) prides itself on looking “outside the box” in order to provide the most effective and innovative care to patients and families. In 2006, as we were looking for ways to strengthen the team process and guarantee that each patient benefited from every team member’s expertise, the term “transdisciplinary” began to circulate among our managers. The very concept of transdisciplinary, “across or beyond disciplines,” seemed perfect. Dale Larson, who in 1985 first applied the term to the hospice community, says “...the transdisciplinary part is the 15 percent of something special over the more-commonly seen ‘highfunctioning team’.... It’s about mutual respect, learning from each other, and everyone on the team taking responsibility for each patent.” When Hospice By The Bay (HBTB) decided to institute a transdisciplinary team model in 2007, then-president/CEO, Mary Taverna (who has since retired), noted that a transdisciplinary team model is like returning to our roots. “In the early days of hospice, any member of the multidisciplinary team was put in the position of assessing and intervening,” she said. “What was observed at the bedside could not be ignored simply because of one’s discipline. Everyone had basic assessment and intervention skills.” The guiding principle of the transdisciplinary team (TDT) model is that each member of the team takes responsibility for each and every patient cared for by that team. The role of RNs, while critical, is shifted so the RNs do not feel total and ultimate responsibility for “their patients.” Thus, the case manager becomes the “primary nurse”—one essential member of the holistic team. In the TDT model, no team member can say “that’s not my job” or “that’s not my patient.” 28 NewsLine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NewsLine - September 2011

NewsLine – September 2011
No Pain, All Gain
A Message From Don
We Earned Our Merit Badge in Clinical Excellence (display ad)
New Study on Dementia Patients
Custom-Print Marketplace (display ad)
Circle of Life Award 2011 Honorees
The Transitions Program at Redmond-Sisters Hospice
Recruiting Problems? HMR (display ad)
The Voice of NCHPP
The Transdisciplinary Team Model
Hospice Care Wins Big Impact Award
New Tool for Choosing a Quality Hospice
2011 Hospice Quilt
Coming This Winter: National Buyer’s Guide
Member News and Notes
Collaboration. The Corridor Group (display ad)
Regulatory Tip of the Month
Educational Offerings
Back Cover
FHSSA Newsletter

NewsLine - September 2011