Sim 6. Reasoning in Teams

Because modern healthcare is delivered by teams, multiple team members can be involved in making a diagnosis. Different people often learn different things from their interactions with the same patient, depending on the individual as well as the context of the conversation. It is quite common for medical students to learn something that the attending physician has not learned and vice versa.

Interprofessional team members may also gather information that others have not. The team pharmacist may learn more about medications and adherence or the patient may tell them about a symptom they haven’t mentioned to others. An inpatient nurse may gather information from visiting family or observe exam findings.  A social worker may pick up on behavioral cues or talk with a patient’s case manager. Each of these team members can also contribute their own knowledge and perspective to the diagnostic process as well as to treatment planning.