Teamwork and MDT Working Questions

No one profession meets all of a patient’s needs, and the CBT tests whether you can work within a team that does. Multidisciplinary team working means different professionals bringing their expertise together, around the patient, toward shared goals.

Who does what

The team varies with the patient but often includes nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, dietitians, pharmacists, and social workers. A common exam task is to match a need to the right professional: a swallowing difficulty after a stroke to speech and language therapy, a mobility problem to physiotherapy, a discharge care package to a social worker or discharge coordinator. Recognising whose expertise a need calls for, rather than trying to manage everything alone, is the skill being tested.

Referring at the right time

Making a referral is not passing the patient off; it is getting them the expertise they need. You refer when a patient has a need best met by another profession, and knowing when to do that is part of joined-up care. A nurse who spots a swallowing concern and involves speech and language therapy is coordinating care well.

The patient at the centre

Good MDT working keeps the patient and their goals central, with each profession contributing toward shared aims. When individual professional targets, or the most senior person’s preferences, take priority over the patient, care fragments. The team exists for the patient, not the other way round.

Communication and respectful disagreement

What makes a team work is clear communication, which prevents duplication, gaps and errors. Treating it as a formality is where coordinated care breaks down. And disagreement handled well is part of a healthy team: when a nurse sees things differently from another professional, the right approach is to raise it respectfully and constructively, sharing the nursing perspective with the patient’s interests at heart. Refusing to cooperate, staying silent on a valid concern, or undermining a colleague in front of the patient all damage the team and the care it provides. Next: conflict and difficult conversations. Five teamwork scenarios first.