Interdisciplinary clinical education: implementing a gerontological home visiting program.

The Interdisciplinary House Calls program was a collaborative effort between a Midwestern medical school and a university, designed to give students from various health-related disciplines the opportunity to experience interdisciplinary team work in a clinical setting. Medical, nursing, communication disorders, and health sciences students formed teams and completed 4 home visits to assigned elderly patients over 18 months. Students learned the importance of collaboration and reported an appreciation of the contributions of each health-related discipline.