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MDT Guide and Toolkit

MDT Guide and Toolkit

3: Selecting Team Members

Getting Started

Your community will want to think about who is going to participate in the MDT. Who is invited to serve on the MDT will depend upon the needs and resources of the community and the purpose of the MDT.

Do not expect to have all the players at the table in the beginning. Admittedly, some professionals may be more difficult to recruit than others. Rather, your community may want to begin with agencies that are enthusiastic about starting an MDT and build momentum. In fact, when the MDT is starting out, it can be preferable to have a small group of dedicated individuals to build the foundation. Over time, the needs of the MDT will become apparent and the existing MDT can strategically invite professionals to fill those gaps.

Once you have established a core group of team members, consider creating working groups to tackle aspects of MDT formation that fall within the professional domain and interest of your members. For example, your legal representatives will likely want to be involved in working through confidentiality concerns. Other team members may take a special interest in developing the mission and objectives. Utilize the talents, interests and training of team members to form the foundation of your MDT.

Potential MDT Members

There are a multitude of potential members for your community to consider. Potential core members might include: 

  • Adult Protective Services (APS)
  • Aging services network personnel
  • Geriatricians/physicians
  • Law enforcement
  • Prosecutors (District Attorneys)
  • Psychologists/neuropsychologists
  • Victim-witness advocates or service providers

The Toolkit item: Possible Professions to Serve on Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Teams, provides a comprehensive list of potential MDT members, definitions of each profession, and how each profession makes a unique contribution to the MDT. Strategically discuss how the needs of the community match a particular profession. Consider asking some professionals to serve as a consultant-as-needed rather than being a core MDT member. Membership should also match the profile of the community.  

When considering gaps in services or a lack of a specifically needed profession, ask yourself what role or function you are looking to fill. Particularly in smaller, rural, or remote communities, access to many professions may be limited, but you may be able to identify an appropriate professional who could meet the need if they are given support and supplemental education. For instance, you may not have access to a forensic accountant, but you may be able to find an interested accountant or retired financial industry professional who could learn about elder financial abuse and forensic accounting protocols, and upon being properly vetted, added to your team. A city or county employee could also be shared with the team. Other options include sharing a professional across multiple teams in one state or region or finding professionals who can engage virtually with clients, such as clinicians who can conduct virtual capacity assessments.  

Desirable Characteristics

At the same time, your community may want to discuss the individual characteristics that might work best on an MDT, as not everyone is equally well suited to serve on an MDT. Think ahead and strategically about criteria for membership on the MDT. For example, your community may want to discuss: 

  • Length and type of relevant experience
  • Availability and workload
  • Personality factors (e.g., social skills, the ability to work as a team member)
  • Belief in the team model
  • Degree of commitment
  • Identifiable agency barriers

Limit Membership

As community partners perceive the benefit of this model, more partners may want to join, potentially increasing the size of your MDT. Your community will want to think carefully about who needs to be on the MDT rather than who wants to be on the MDT. In addition, studies find that an MDT of moderate size (10 or less) performs best (Van Der Vegt & Bunderson, 2005).

Recruitment

Generic Recruitment Document

Many communities use a recruitment document (a written handout) to give to potential MDT members. Potential MDT members may be unfamiliar with the elder abuse MDT model and will need to be educated about the purpose and goals of the MDT. Although a mission statement may not have been adopted at this point, share your community’s vision for the MDT and other pertinent information with potential members. Some suggestions include: 

  • What is an MDT?
  • Who is leading this effort?
  • Who is involved at this point?
  • Why is the MDT being developed?
  • What are the benefits of an MDT?
  • How is the MDT going to be developed?
  • What work/documents/reports have been completed?
  • Where is the MDT going to be located?
  • How is the MDT going to be funded?
  • When will the MDT start?

Also in the document, consider describing any qualification requirements for MDT members. Outline the MDT’s expectations and requirements for being an MDT member. Be honest about the time commitment, philosophical commitment, and other issues that define the MDT to avoid disappointment later. Some of this information will be contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Some considerations for discussion include:

  • Onboarding procedures
  • Length of commitment (e.g., 2-year rotation)
  • Time commitment (include travel and meeting times)
  • Mandatory meeting requirements
  • Outside-of-meetings time commitment
  • Confidentiality requirements
  • MDT training requirements
  • Participation requirements for an MDT evaluation
  • Case updates and data submission requirements for case tracking
  • Expectations for participating in working groups or subcommittees
  • Exit interview procedures

Personalized Recruitment

There is basic information all potential MDT members will need. However, recruitment may need to be tailored to each profession. Your community may want to discover what would be most important to persuade a potential member to join the MDT and target your recruitment efforts accordingly. For example: 

  • Some people may be more likely to understand the value of forming an elder abuse MDT if they have relevant local statistics. 
  • Others may need to understand the current gaps in service identified in your community. 
  • Some agency representatives may want to clearly understand what they will get out of participation and what they will be expected to contribute.
  • Others may be more moved by an illustrative story of abuse and how your service could change the outcome in similar cases. 

Think collectively about how you can best make your case to those you want to invite into your MDT collaboration. Know that pulling together this information has the added benefit of serving your future sustainability efforts as you seek additional funding or expand your partnerships. 
 

Include Leadership in Recruitment Strategies

The importance of organizational support for MDT membership cannot be overstated. Without the commitment and buy-in of leadership, it will be challenging for some MDT members to participate. Therefore, as part of your recruitment strategy, your community may want to discuss ways to clearly communicate what each member agency can expect to gain from their participation. Consider targeting recruitment efforts at leadership, especially for those organizations whose leadership is unfamiliar with MDTs. Encourage organizations to place value on team performance and include this as part of performance evaluations that more typically evaluate individual performance. 
 

Recruitment Meeting

Your community may want to consider holding a recruitment meeting (see Toolkit item: Sample Recruitment Invitation) that will bring together potential MDT members. During the meeting, network with agency leadership you are inviting to participate. Share the MDT’s vision and mission, highlight the work of similar teams, review prevalence statistics or other relevant data, and inspire stakeholders to participate in the many benefits of participating in an MDT collaboration as outlined in Chapter 1. Recruitment may be enhanced when both individual outreach and group efforts are made. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a toolkit with many helpful tips for planning a convening and mobilizing stakeholders. See Elder Fraud Prevention Network Development Guideand Host a convening.

Recruitment Will Remain Periodic

All MDTs experience turnover for various reasons or realize a knowledge gap that needs to be filled. Therefore, the MDT will need to develop policies and procedures related to recruitment and selection of new members.

Recruitment of an MDT member is potentially disruptive, but should be perceived as an opportunity to introduce a fresh perspective. Regardless, recruitment of a new MDT member must be a “team” decision. Your team may want to consider the following process:

  • Identify the MDT’s gap/need.
  • Identify a potential member.
  • Present a short biographical sketch on the potential member, discuss the potential member, and vote on nominating the potential member.
  • Provide the potential member with a recruitment letter (see Toolkit item: EA MDT Recruitment Letter Worksheet).
  • The MDT Coordinator (or designee) should extend an invitation to the potential member to meet with the MDT for a mutual “look see” (this is an opportunity for the candidate and the MDT members to exchange questions and information).

Other options for new member recruitment include assigning an agency to lead the recruitment and interview process, or forming a subcommittee for this purpose. 

Understand and communicate to your team that while you can identify and choose many individual professionals with whom you would like to work, some agencies will assign personnel to participate in your MDT. 

However your team decides to proceed, create and institute a process for recruitment. Involve your team members in the process wherever possible to facilitate team cohesion and generate buy-in.

New Member Orientation Meeting

New member orientation meetings may need to be held periodically when there has been sufficient turnover, or annually, but should utilize face-to-face meetings. Develop on-boarding policies and procedures and provide new MDT members with a binder of relevant materials to refer to during orientation. During orientation, consider discussing and providing written materials regarding the following topics:

  • The history of the MDT
  • Any relevant legislation guiding the formation or collaboration efforts for your team
  • The mission and vision statement
  • The organizational structure of the MDT
  • A roster of member agencies and contacts
  • The contributions of each agency’s representative
  • The common terminology used by the team
  • The team’s policies and procedures
  • The process of referral, intake, and follow-up
  • The client or case eligibility criteria
  • The expectations regarding communication protocol and the flow of information
  • How cases are investigated (joint, home visits)
  • The case review meeting structure, including virtual or hybrid meeting options
Chapter 3: Summary

There is an expansive array of professionals who might serve on an MDT. However, be judicious to begin with by inviting four to six individuals to serve on the MDT. Develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will be signed by all agencies. As the MDT matures, consider the MDT’s developing needs and who might best fill those needs. Finally, develop new member recruitment documents and policies and develop a schedule for new member orientation meetings.