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Collaborative practice is the future of case management

Case Management Weekly, January 2, 2008

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Editor's note: Case Management Monthly kick-starts 2008 with the first "From the Director's Desk" column of the year:  a special extended conversation with a leading figure in the world of case management.

A founding member of the American Case Management Association (ACMA) and still on its board of directors, Sharon Mass, PhD, ACM, is at the forefront of the organization's campaign to promote collaborative practice.

"From my perspective, we in healthcare want to do the right thing by the patient," says Mass, "but I've come to learn that no one person can be every instrument in the band. By having the expertise and the involvement of collaborative practice, with other disciplines coming together to determine how we can best meet a patient's needs, we can begin to put the patient at the center of care."

Mass, who is also director of case management and palliative care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, goes further; collaborative practice is the only way to get a full view of every patient.

"What I've learned is that each discipline has its own perspective. The beauty of the social work-nurse partnership is that the nurse sees patients from a body system perspective, and the social worker from a person and environment perspective.

"When you blend the two perspectives," says Mass, "you see a broader picture of what the patient's needs are because the disciplines making the assessment bring unique expertise."

Source: Subscribers can read the entire article in the January issue of Case Management Monthly. Not a CMM subscriber? Click here to learn more.

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