Shifting Roles on Teams
Historically, physicians have had the role of team leader in health care
settings because of various factors, including culture, gender, and power; however,
an emerging pattern in many primary care teams demands equal participation and
responsibility from all team members with shifting leadership determined by the
nature of the problem to be solved. Even when one team member, often a
physician, has administrative authority over others (i.e., as a supervisor), members
of an interdisciplinary team treat one another as colleagues rather than as a
single leader and subordinates.
- Emphasis by the team on geriatric health care rather than the more narrow
focus of medical care broadens the roles and responsibilities of nonphysician care
providers.
For example, when a patient’s primary problems are due to an abusive and neglectful family situation, the
social worker may assume the primary leadership role in helping the team take
the allowable actions to improve the patient’s situation.