Interdisciplinary Pre-Service Initiatives in Gerontology: How to Get Started

So how does one go about es-tablishing team experiences to sat-isfy the agency, the participants’needs, as well as accomplish learn-ing objectives for our students? Thefirst step is to identify those indi-viduals, either in the community orfrom your immediate workplace,who share similar interests in de-veloping these joint experiences.Finding an umbrella agency tomonitor these initiatives can pro-vide insight regarding populationneeds and identify other colleagueswho are interested in collaboration.For example, at Ithaca College wehave such departments as Thera-peutic Recreation and Leisure Ser-vices, Occupational Therapy, Physi-cal Therapy, and Sociology. Theyprovide opportunities for network-ing and collaborative programs. We are also fortunate to have aGerontology Institute, which attimes can serve to help coordinatethese efforts. The Gerontology Insti-tute is also one of the participantsin the Finger Lakes Geriatric Edu-cation Center (FLGEC). This pro-gram covers over 13 counties in up-state New York and provides botheducational and research opportu-nities for area professionals and fac-ulty. The FLGEC is affiliated withthe University of Rochester Schoolof Medicine and Dentistry. There areover 30 such geriatric centers in theUnited States supported by the Bu-reau of Health Professions. Thesecenters are dedicated to strengthen-ing the multidisciplinary trainingof health professionals working inthe field of geriatrics.One of the benefits from partici-pating with the FLGEC has been thesharing of knowledge among disci-plines and faculty. One such note-worthy experience includes expo-sure to the work of Dr. Madeline H.Schmitt in the area of interdiscipli-nary research. Dr. Schmitt, Schoolof Nursing, University of Rochester,has presented numerous papersand publications in this area. Shehas recently published an article inthe Journal of Interpro-fessionalCare, which reviews previous re-search regarding the efficacy of theteam approach in health care. Shemakes many references to gerontol-ogy. Apparently, a significantamount of the initial interdiscipli-nary research has been in the areaof geriatrics. Additionally, Dr.Schmitt and colleagues have pub-lished specific articles regardinggeriatric interdisciplinary research.These articles and book chapters,listed at the end of this article un-der Recommended Readings andOther Resources, might serve as im-portant references for students andprofessionals. They can be used tosupport an interdisciplinary geriat-ric-based clinical practicum model.Teaming can occur within a medi-cal or social setting. Contactingyour local Area Agency on Agingor your local senior center may be agood first step to understandingwhat opportunities are available inyour community. Krout and col-leagues ((Krout, Durnford, &Crichley, 1997) further describehow to navigate these complex so-cial networks.Over the last 10 years, I havebeen fortunate to be involved in anumber of gerontological initiativesrelated to my field. However, I couldhardly give myself complete creditfor my professional growth in thisarea. Instead, I need to acknowledgethe influence of colleagues fromwithin and outside of my field whohave provided multiple opportuni-ties for collaboration and learning.The interdisciplinary opportuni-ties, in particular, have facilitatedunforeseen growth in why and howI approach geriatric populations.This is probably not too surprisingas the field of gerontology, by itsnature, is interdisciplinary given thenumber of sociological and medicalneeds of older adults.Now that the graduation sea-son has recently past, it hasprompted me to think about how wecan foster these interdisciplinaryattitudes in our students before theyenter the workplace. Whether weare externship site clinical supervi-sors or teach in an academic setting,we should consider how we couldprovide geriatric team experiencesfor our students. We need to providethis type of training as current andfuture certification practicum guide-lines require experience with ge-neric, but not with specific, agegroups (e.g., adult vs. geriatric, pe-diatric vs. early intervention), andspecific therapy contexts (e.g., inter-disciplinary) are not identified.Although it would be ideal forall students to complete academicand fieldwork experiences in geri-atrics, there are other opportunitiesthat can be utilized to provide ex-posure to this population. Theseopportunities include communityservice sponsored by a campus club