title: Interdisciplinary collaboration: the need to revisit.
abstract: Given the complexity of the health care system and the prevalence of acute and chronic mental illnesses, multi-system interventions from an interdisciplinary team of health care providers are necessary to address the needs of individuals in psychiatric and mental health treatment venues. Despite claims that interdisciplinary practice is the norm, in reality it is difficult to accomplish (Martin-Rodriguez, Beaulieu, D'Amour, & Ferrada-Videla, 2005). Students must be taught the principles and elements of this way of providing care in order to succeed. This paper describes strategies for educating undergraduate nursing students to engage in interdisciplinary collaborative practice. Two case studies are used to illustrate how teaching collaborative skills can be integrated into a psychiatric undergraduate nursing course.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6170, USA. eileen_rossen@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Eileen K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Rossen
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: Charlotte A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Herrick
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003142:Communication; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013338:Students, Nursing; D014481:United States