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Multidisciplinary Team
This section on the Multidisciplinary Team is written by Dr Orla Hardiman, Consultant Neurologist, Director of the Beaumont Hospital MND Clinic.
The multidisciplinary team comprises a group of clinical professionals with specific expertise in MND, who work as an integrated unit and whose aim is to provide flexible and rapidly accessible care for MND patients and their families. The type of multidisciplinary expertise required by patients will vary depending on the stage of the illness, which can be roughly divided into 3 components: .
- The diagnostic and early disability phase: Breaking bad news, education and accessing services
- The disability phase: Coping with the burden of disease and burden of care, palliation of symptoms, facing existential concerns.
- Terminal phase : alleviating suffering and maintaining dignity and quality of life; making end of life decisions
The key members and their functions are as follows:
Neurologist
The neurologist is the person who makes the diagnosis, and who directs the medical management of the patient. The experienced neurologist will be alert to the common conditions that can mimic MND, and will perform the appropriate investigations to exclude them. Bad news is imparted by the neurologist in a compassionate and sensitive way. As part of ongoing care, the neurologist helps the patient and family to decide what the best treatment options are, can put current and future research developments into context, and can advise on when to intervene with medications and other interventions..
Although discussions with patients and their families may overlap with other therapists, interaction with different members of the team usually helps patients and families to more fully understand their condition, not only because they hear the information again, but because each team member will have his or her own individual educational perspective.