3.4.e Include the Team and Establish Roles: A PCDM Key Element

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A key element in PCDM is to clarify the roles and expectations of members of the team. In order to do this you must include every member of the interprofessional team and then discuss their roles both in the PCDM process and in the ongoing clinical care of the client.

Clearly-defined roles that support team functioning also support sharing decision making with the client. Ideally, the team members share power, share knowledge, and have mutual trust and respect for each other. Each team needs an Initiator; this is anyone who initiates the decision making process (6). The initiator can be a health care professional who identifies that a decision needs to be made and includes the team in the PCDM process. Often the Initiator will work with others to begin a key part of the PCDM process: they will name and explain the issue or the health concern.

Then a Decision Coach is identified to support the client's involvement in decision making and this person is one of the providers on the team (6). Health care professionals from at least two different disciplines are involved simultaneously or sequentially in the process with the support of the Decision Coach to conduct most of the elements in the PCDM process.

To contribute to the decision making, each team member needs to understand their own role and capabilities in shared decision making processes. At the onset of developing a shared care plan, it is important to clarify the organization’s, ethics, values, and behaviours, and any potential impacts on the role or philosophy of practice of an individual team member. Since incongruence in values and beliefs is a key source of conflict for health care providers, a team must be able to identify shared values and behaviours to function well as a team. 

 

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Journal_Icon.png PERSONAL REFLECTION

Team members need to be able to step outside their professional identities to think of what they can specifically contribute to the team. Think of your own skills, talents, and expertise and how they relate to the roles you can perform in health care.

Are you able to use these skills when working in a team? Why or why not?

What expectations do you have of your team members when thinking about how they contribute to the team’s functioning and performance?