Impact of a student interdisciplinary oncology team project

Team approaches to health care have been developing steadily over the past 30 years in response to increasing concerns about accessibility, efficiency, and comprehensiveness of health care services. Implementation of team approaches has been accompanied by development of curricula and educational experiences that educate health professionals both in effective teamwork skills and in understanding the contributions each profession makes to comprehensive health care. Such a project was implemented in 1975 at the University of Hawaii involving the Schools of Nursing, Social Work, and Medicine. This paper describes an evaluation of the impact of an interdisciplinary team approach to the care of oncology patients by students in medicine, nursing, and social work. Evaluation is based upon project objectives using a series of pre- and posttest measures and weekly logs by participating students between 1979 and 1985. The paper addresses the following questions: What was the impact of the team experience on participating students as reflected in evaluation data? How effective was the Student Interdisciplinary Oncology Team Project in helping students achieve each of the seven stated objectives? What are the differences in professional socialization processes among the three professions represented in the project?