Teamwork when Conducting Family Meetings: Concepts, Terminology, and the Importance of Team-Team Practices

Family meetings, which bring together members of a seriously ill patient ’s family and the interprofessional team (IPT), have been widely recognized as promoting shared decision making for hospitalized patients, particularly those in intensive care units. The planning and conducting of interprofessional family meetings is hampered, however, by a lack of clarity about w ho is doing what and when, which in turn can lead to inefficiencies and uncoordinated efforts. This manuscript describes how members of the IPT interact with one another (what we have termed team-team practices), distinguishing these interactions from how the IPT engages directly with family members (team-family practices) in preparing for and conducting family meetings.
Source: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Tags: Special Article Source Type: research