Chapter 10 - Teams and professionalism

Summary

The challenges of professionalism are related to changing public and patient expectations, increased costs, conflicts of interest and consumerism. This chapter talks about teamwork. The essence of teamwork is the model used for crew resource management. Teams have been around for centuries, but healthcare teams are relatively new. They contrast with familiar congenial work groups that constitute the basic units of all hospitals. The integration of true medical teams into healthcare in several countries has occurred to varying degrees with different results. In the United States, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has defined six competencies which form the basis of physician training. Two models that explain medical student cynicism include: the intergenerational model and the professional identity model. Teams serve the purpose of self-preservation by encouraging physicians to honour their ultimate fiduciary avowal, and to work co-operatively for the greater good of society.