[Dysphagia] Change subject - Interdisciplinary teams

[Tammy.Gadbois at va.gov (Gadbois, Tammy C.)]

I am going to make a big suggestion, due to a recent death in my
facility, for implementation of an interdisciplinary team.  Please flood
my email box with your successes/failures.   What members do you feel
are absolutely pertinent and which are nice, but optional?

Also, how do you coordinate - monthly meetings to discuss patients on
modified diets?  

I'm on the team investigating the death and what we are finding is that
he had a UTI, probably for 4 months.  I'm thinking if we had something
like excessive weight loss triggering a chart review team meeting, we
would have reviewed the CNAs notes about the discharge and gotten him
appropriate treatment/f-up.  He may not have gotten so sick.  

Do you have nursing staff on the team?

Also, our facility is a little different.  We have 180 beds, but all on
different wards with different nurses, dietitians, PCPs on each ward.
Should I arrange a different team for the 40 patients on each ward, with
their particular staff or make one central team????

TIA!!

Tammy C Gadbois, M.N.S., CCC-A/SLP
Clinical Audiologist/Speech-Language Pathologist
VA Medical Center - Tomah 
500 E Veterans St-126
Tomah, WI  54660
608 372-1291