Introduction

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Health care costs, health care technology, and longevity have forced our traditional health care system to become increasingly complex. A physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant may provide primary care for some conditions while collaborating with social workers, occupational therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, physical therapists, chaplains, dietitians, or other professionals to respond to patient and family needs and preferences.

To reduce costs and provide good health care to people, multiple professionals must coordinate their care with that of others.

In addition, growing managed care systems and their reliance on continuous quality improvement methods are strongly encouraging growth in interdisciplinary care practice.

Traditionally health professions trainees have had little explicit instruction in teamwork and limited opportunities to observe teams effectively providing care. In 1995, The John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc., recognized the need to improve the care of elders by enhancing the interdisciplinary training of students and professionals in the health professions. The Foundation created the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training Initiative (GITT) and awarded grants to partnerships between academic institutions and clinical providers.

Beginning in 1997 eight models were funded to implement and evaluate ways in which to develop the team skills of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other health care professionals. This team-training module is one of the products of the Houston GITT project supported by a grant from the Foundation to Baylor College of Medicine's Huffington Center on Aging.

In response to a need for educational resources on interdisciplinary team training, this team-training module was developed for trainees from all health care backgrounds. Its purpose is to offer basic training about interdisciplinary health care teams, and it represents the collaborative work of many faculty members and clinical practitioners associated with academic institutions and clinical training sites in and surrounding the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

The focus of this information is on geriatric health care, although much of this module will be helpful to all teams.

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