Insights - Winter 2010 - (Page 6)

A Philosophical Look at the IDT “A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.” By Barbara Bouton MA, FT T his Swahili proverb provides a strong visual image and metaphor for teams and teamwork. Can’t you just picture a boat where each rower is doing his/ her own thing? The boat might go in circles, it might stand still, or I suppose it might even capsize. To propel the boat forward, it is crucial that all rowers work in collaboration with each other. This proverb also provides a strong metaphor for the hospice interdisciplinary team. Isn’t it just as important that team members work in collaboration with the patient and family and with each other to ensure the patient’s goals are met? While we may understand the value of the interdisciplinary team as a practice that distinguishes hospice from the rest of healthcare, we also know that teams often fall short of this ideal. Nevertheless, it is important to uphold such a standard; it gives organizations and teams something to strive toward. Okay, you acknowledge that a team of rowers makes sense when striving to propel a boat forward, but why is a team so essential to hospice care? At the time the modern-day hospice movement began, medical care focused exclusively on physical care (and still does in most venues), with no attention to a person’s emotional, social and spiritual “selves.” Yet the founding leaders of the hospice movement believed, as we 6 Insights 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - Winter 2010

Cover 1
Table of Contents
Thank You
A Philosophical Look at the IDT
Resistance to Change: Perception or Reality?
The Hospice Physician: More Involved—and More Engaged
The Role of Volunteers in Management
Complementary Therapy Innovators
Spending a Day in Their Team Member’s Shoes
Bereavement Professionals Shadow 6 Colleagues
Pharmacists and Nurses Connect
A Social Worker Sits in for an Office Manager
Clinical and Marketing Teams Shadow Each Other
Helpful Reminders for Executive Leadership
Keeping the IDT Spirit Alive
The Art of NCHPP
Using My NHPCO
Essential Guide to Hospice Management (display ad)
NHPCO Educational Offerings
Cover 2

Insights - Winter 2010

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