Moving Out of Silos: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Education for Team-Based Practice

Temple University’s College of Public Health recently transitioned from a College of Health Professions and Social Work to a  College of Public Health with the following academic disciplines: Communication Sciences and Disorders; Health Information Management; Kinesiology; Nursing; Physical Therapy; Public Health; Rehabilitation Sciences; and Social Work. Historically, the departments have operated in silos with little interdisciplinary work. Beginning in Summer 2014, the College began moving towards a more collaborative approach to education, thereby providing training that is more reflective of real-world practice where these different disciplines are working together. Representative faculty from across the departments worked together to build new educational and practice-based learning opportunities for students, including formal curriculum, online modules, case studies, table-top exercises, and fieldwork experiences as well as associated assessment items. The materials address major public health topics ranging from vaccinations to disabilities and aging and chronic conditions to infectious disease outbreaks, as well as considering seminal reports and recommendations such as Healthy People 2020 and reports from the Centers for Disease Control and the Institutes of Medicine.  We will discuss opportunities for interdisciplinary education, best practices in a classroom setting and innovative approaches to engaging students from across the health professions in practice-based learning experiences as well as institutional challenges to this type of work and possible solutions. The session will provide multiple perspectives on how the interdisciplinary approach is beneficial for students and faculty.