Requirements of team effectiveness in neurosurgical rehabilitation

The purpose of this article is to stress the importance of working with interdisciplinary teams in neurorehabilitation and describe requirements of team effectiveness. It is not sufficient to focus only on different impairments associated with brain injury and offer individuals a variety of therapy. The essential aspect in neurorehabilitation is the integration of disciplines and consistent goal setting to regard individual patient's needs. Interdisciplinary teams benefit from a leader qualified for neuroscience, neurorehabilitation, clinical neuropsychology and psychotherapy. A good structural organization of the team, notice of basic communication rules, understanding typical group dynamics and stressors of interdisciplinary teams, conflict management and a definite decision making increase productive interdisciplinary working and enable the team to continue to mature. Further empirical research is necessary to support the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams as an important variable in the evaluation of rehabilitation outcome and quality control.