Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A child's development is a process that is mediated by both family and sociocultural
setting. It is the family's natural role to help stimulate and encourage children's
development; teach them how to play, walk, talk, and think; and to help them become
individuals and social beings part of a community. However, this role is often transferred
to health-care professionals when a child is born with or acquires a brain injury and
presents the attendant impairments this may bring (Braga et al. 2005). Once a diagnosis is
made, the daily life of these children and their families is often transformed into a series
of visits to medical facilities of various specialized professionals. This fact may often result
in depriving the child and family of experiences specific to childhood, such as parks and
places in which actions become significant to the child's development (Braga and Campos
da Paz Jr 2006).
However, an approach to the child's rehabilitation goes beyond interventions from
different areas of specialization. Human beings must integrate different abilities to engage
in their activities. It is known that interprofessional teamwork is both a fundamental factor
in rehabilitation and an essential element in rendering quality health assistance (Halper
1993; Bakeit 1996; King et al. 1998; Körner 2010).
The fact that a child is seen by many different professionals does not guarantee an
integrated approach. Families often complain of a fragmentation in the health services
they receive, which may often be due to a multidisciplinary (albeit nonintegrated)
manner of treating the individual. The professionals work in a parallel or serial manner,
with well-defined roles and tasks, focused on conducting their specific evaluations and
interventions and assuming responsibility only for their particular aspect of development.
Although the child is seen by an entire team, the professionals establish their own goals
and treatment proposals for the child (Körner 2010). Poor communication and differing
treatment courses commonly lead to this type of fragmented assistance, generating
conflict and extra stress for the families insofar as it increases the risk of discrepancies or
redundancies in treatment.
Teamwork is not defined by the isolated interventions of various specialties. The
professionals' effective communication and cooperative action are among the most
important characteristics of an interdisciplinary team approach (Bakeit 1996; Körner 2010).
This model consequently requires that practitioners meet frequently to discuss, assess, and
define coherent and consistent rehabilitation goals and plans and to conduct the child's
treatment in a cooperative manner. Joint teamwork integrates knowledge and experience
from practitioners in diverse areas of specialization (King et al. 1998; Braga 2006).
To be effective, teamwork has to be established so that the child is at the center of
rehabilitation efforts. This unified approach is developed in conjunction with the family,
who in turn is empowered to exercise their natural role of educators and co-collaborators in
the child's stimulation (Braga 2009). This signifies that the joint assessments and discussions
be done in partnership with those who care for the child, focusing on existent developmental
and contextual needs (Braga 2000; Hinojosa et al. 2002; King et al. 2004; Braga 2006).
In this way, it is possible to construct a unique, individualized program that is
based on functional, contextualized, child-centered activities that require the child
to concomitantly use various skills. The program should be based on and guided by
realistic, viable, long- and short-term goals depending on the child's potential and
sociocultural setting. This effort by a team of pediatric specialists constitutes a context-
sensitive, family-based approach to promoting the child's development (Braga and
Campos da Paz Jr 2006).
Integrated teamwork incorporates the knowledge and experience that each professional
from distinct fields brings to the rehabilitation program. It also fosters professional
