Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Chapter 13 The Interdisciplinary Treatment Team 269
Interdisciplinary health care team members also need practical tools
to guide them in preparing for the provision of patient/client care during
and after a disaster. This chapter describes strategies that can be used to
develop, manage, and maintain effective interdisciplinary teamwork. The
chapter also provides a guide regarding the requisite knowledge and skills
required for team development, management, and maintenance. As demonstrated
in Table 13.1, the requisite knowledge and skills can be learned
and can result in increased team effectiveness and efficiency.
The interdisciplinary team training models described in this chapter,
particularly STEPS and the Disaster Preparedness Scenarios and
Problem-Solving Simulations, offer a unique approach that can be incorporated
into the structure of any interdisciplinary team. This can be accomplished
regardless of the conditions under which the interdisciplinary
team operates or its specific mission. This is true for almost all health care
settings that have interdisciplinary teams, with the exception of acute care
and other short-term care settings, where time constraints may limit the
application of this model.
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