Physicians and Nurses: Roles and Responsibilities in Caring for the Critically Ill Patient

Extract

Most health professionals today would agree about the necessity of interdisciplinary health care for clients. The optimal division of labor, however, has been a source of concern if not outright disagreement.

Literature on “professional status” and on the interrelationships of health professionals abounds, possibly leading one to the impression that everything worth saying has already been said. However, developments in health care and in professional education are of a dynamic rather than of a static nature. For this reason alone a reconsideration of the roles and relationships of health care team members is justified from time to time.

Determining whether the health care system meets the needs of service recipients is only one important reason for studying role interactions.