Management Reasoning: The Real Teamwork Begins After the Diagnosis
Management reasoning—the cognitive and contextual processes that guide patient care decisions after a diagnosis—is an essential yet underdeveloped element of interprofessional education. It connects treatment planning, care progression, patient preferences, and resource use with the realities of collaborative clinical decision-making. Aligned with the Nexus Summit 2025 theme of preparing students for interprofessional collaborative practice, this 60-minute seminar introduces management reasoning as a critical mindset that bridges clinical reasoning and interprofessional team-based care.
While clinical reasoning within individual professions is well-studied, we know little about the processes involved in interprofessional management reasoning—the shared deliberations about care plans, priorities, and next steps where the patient is a key team member. A central concept is purposeful shared decision-making (SDM), which is problem-focused and integrates patient values, institutional constraints, and the evolving nature of care.
Attendees will explore how physical therapy, occupational therapy, and pharmacy professionals contribute uniquely and synergistically to team-based management reasoning. Through analysis of a real-world inpatient case, participants will uncover the reasoning processes underlying interprofessional collaboration, clarify how management reasoning differs from general IPECP, and explore practical strategies to teach it.
Learning Objectives:
Define management reasoning and describe its relevance across PT, OT, and pharmacy.
Distinguish management reasoning from IPECP, identifying overlapping and unique roles.
Reflect on strategies to support management reasoning development in learners across didactic and clinical settings.
Actionable Practice Knowledge:
Attendees will leave prepared to model cognitive transparency in clinical teaching, integrate management reasoning into interprofessional rounds or handoffs, and engage students in discussions that make invisible decision-making visible.
Active Learning Strategies:
To accommodate virtual learners, all engagement occurs in the main session without breakout rooms. Activities include:
Chat-based reflective prompts
Guided role-based case analysis using a shared worksheet
Group discussion to deconstruct interprofessional reasoning and decision points
Priority Criteria Fulfillment:
This seminar advances interprofessional collaborative practice by shifting the educational focus beyond diagnosis to the shared management of care. It equips educators to help learners engage in transparent, coordinated, and patient-centered care planning across disciplines.