Report on an interdisciplinary program for allied health.
BACKGROUND
A central recommendation from the Pew Health Commission to educators has been to empower future care providers to function effectively as teams. Administrators and faculty members within a school of allied health sciences thus established an interdisciplinary program where students would learn to function as team members and demonstrate competencies required for practice in diverse, demanding, and continually changing health care environments. Students from five disciplines have participated in featured events, mentored activities and capstone projects, earning credit in an interdisciplinary course of study that complements offerings in their home disciplines.


OBJECTIVE
This follow-up article reports on the progress and development since 2002 of an interdisciplinary program known as Team IDEAL. Formative evaluation measures used to assess satisfaction with the program are presented alongside a discussion of new directions.


CONCLUSIONS
Team IDEAL will move forward in a streamlined form that reflects its central aim. IDEAL leadership will remain cognizant of the effects of discipline-specific curricular changes, complex programming, and student perspectives on the process interdisciplinary education.
Peloquin
S M
SM
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA. speloqui@utmb.edu
Cavazos
H
H
Marion
R
R
Stephenson
K S
KS
Pearrow
D
D
D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D017145:Models, Educational; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods; D013336:Students, Health Occupations