Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Teaching Interdisciplinary Teamwork and Geriatrics

The Mount Sinai Medical Center Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training Program prepares future health professionals to work on geriatrics interdisciplinary health care teams through structured educational and training experiences. This article describes the Program's educational goals and teaching methods. A number of cross-disciplinary approaches have been developed to facilitate learning, including team teaching, a seminar series, workshops, journaling, standardized patients, "real time" experiences, and other program enhancements. The Program has had considerable impact at the trainee, faculty, management and institutional levels, but issues and challenges to cross-disciplinary team training remain. Suggestions for overcoming learning, professional culture, and implementation barriers are given.