Interdisciplinary teaching of community paediatrics

An experiment of combining decentralized and interdisciplinary teaching is described. Seminars were arranged at a district hospital for medical, nursing and social work students to discuss families with a chronically ill child. The purpose of these seminars was to teach co-operation between different health care workers, and to stress the importance of becoming acquainted with the family situation, and learn what a child's illness means to the whole family. An evaluation of the first three seminars shows that this type of teaching was very well received by the students, professionals and families concerned. The students considered house calls an important part of their education and felt that more interdisciplinary teaching should be included in their curriculum. In addition to the teaching aspect, the families involved also considered the seminars a positive experience as they receive more information about their child's disease, and deficiencies in treatment could be corrected.