Compete or complement? An interdisciplinary approach to training health professionals

The recommendation that future practitioners have the competency to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams is not new, but educating students for this type of practice remains a challenge for the health care professions (1-4). Early interdisciplinary teams usually worked in parallel. There were no common goals, but each group's goals stemmed from its professional education (5). In the traditional model, medical doctors were the "team leaders." Current recommendations challenge health professions educators "to move beyond traditional discipline-bound educational models to future-oriented interdisciplinary teaching/learning models" (6). Taking this recommendation seriously, educators from the University of South Florida (USF) formed a team to develop a model to guide the education of students from four health professions. Our goal was to model, by our philosophy, actions, and words, the art of teaching as an interdisciplinary team. This article describes the first phase of the process and four critical steps--establishing a common goal, developing a team process, creating a model to guide our interactions, and developing support networks within the community.