Teams make up the building blocks of health care and every team—from the executive to the coal face—is composed of diVerent professionals, ideally possessing a variety of skills necessary to produce safe and eVective care. We are constantly reminded of the value of diversity within teams, but the reality is that working together from a variety of perspectives is sometimes diYcult to achieve. Th...

The past 10 years have seen the introduction of clinical audit, guidelines on clinical and organisational delivery of care, and more recently an emphasis on evidence based medicine. An intelligent member of the public, particularly if a trained manager, may believe that such an array of managerial tools would be related to an easily measured improved outcome, particularly in a common adult dise...

Teams make up the building blocks of health care and every team—from the executive to the coal face—is composed of diVerent professionals, ideally possessing a variety of skills necessary to produce safe and eVective care. We are constantly reminded of the value of diversity within teams, but the reality is that working together from a variety of perspectives is sometimes diYcult to achieve. Th...

Teams make up the building blocks of health care and every team—from the executive to the coal face—is composed of diVerent professionals, ideally possessing a variety of skills necessary to produce safe and eVective care. We are constantly reminded of the value of diversity within teams, but the reality is that working together from a variety of perspectives is sometimes diYcult to achieve. Th...

The involvement of patients in the decisions about their treatment or care seems an unquestionable advance. There are philosophical and ethical justifications for this. Evidence is also accruing about its benefits—namely, increased satisfaction with care and communication, increased certainty about making the best decision, reduced anxiety levels, and greater adherence to chosen management plan...