Team care: an analysis of verbal behavior during patient rounds in a rehabilitation hospital.

Patient rounds are an important aspect of multidisciplinary team care. Team perceptions of ideally functioning rounds were compared with the actual communication patterns in rounds in a physical rehabilitation hospital. Perceptions of the patients' needs in the content areas of physical, psychosocial, and support systems were also compared with the actual distribution of content in rounds. Physicians spoke more (41%) and made more authoritative statements (62%) than did staff from any other discipline. The physicians participated far more than was perceived as ideal in all areas but the physical. Patients contributed only 9% of the discussion and less than 1% of authoritative statements. The physical content area was overemphasized (65%) and the psychosocial area was underemphasized (14%) when compared with the perceived needs of the patients. Interpretations of these findings and implications for investigation of the impact of team care are discussed.