Five ways to describe a multidisciplinary team

‘Multidisciplinary team' is a term used to describe a variety of different interprofessional working arrangements. A problem in designing and improving teams is that people use the same word to mean something different. This makes it difficult to discuss which type of team is best for a particular purpose and setting. The paper presents five ways to describe a multidisciplinary team: in terms of degree of integration; extent of collective responsibility; membership; client pathway and decision-making; and management structures. Using these concepts practitioners and managers can clarify their working arrangements and make improvements. These concepts service planning and research.