Interdisciplinary health care: part III.

Since the spring of 1974, the University of Houston, College of Optometry has been involved in teaching optometry students the benefits of interdisciplinary health care. Optometry students have worked and learned with allied health, dietetic, nursing, pharmacy and social work students in a disadvantaged area in Houston. The primary purposes of the course were to assist students to learn about the expertise of other professional students, to work in an interdisciplinary team, and to learn about the multifaceted components of health care and the health resources of a community. This paper discusses the program and suggests this model of the Houston experience as one way of teaching interdisciplinary care.