Geropsychiatry Training of Medical Students in a Community Mental Health Center Setting

The Difficulties of Interdisciplinary Education: Lessons From Three Failures and a Success

“…This has been true in several of the programs reported in the literature (Molinari et al, 1983;Stotts & Bolton, 1982).…”

“…Is the technology arcane or undeveloped? Many publications testify to the experience, models, and techniques that are available (Bandler, 1973;Center for Law and Health Sciences, 1972;Flemming-Troupe, 1984;Grabowski, Kappelman, Cahn, & Solomon, 1982;Molinari, Chacko, Marmion, & Adams, 1983;Nichols, 1981;Romaniuk & Parham, 1983, Shriner, Sterns, & Gerson, 1983Stotts & Bolton, 1981;Stotts & Bolton, 1982;Treants & Derr, 1981).…”

“…In the few reports that discuss problems, mention is made of difficulty in meshing academic schedules (Molinari et al, 1983); differences in the educational backgrounds of students (Bandler, 1973;Molinari et al, 1983;Nichols, 1981;Treants & Derr, 1981) and of supervisory style of disciplinary supervisors (Molinari et al, 1983); the time demanded 54 D. G. SATIN of faculty to develop educational programs (Treants & Derr, 1981); differences in levels of student expertise (Nichols, 1981); differences in jargon and concepts (Lindemann, 1955;Shriner et al, 1983); the isolation of disciplinary schools (Bandler, 1973); difference in status between disciplines (Bandler, 1973); and competition, mistrust, and lack of respect for each other's expertise among disciplines (Molinari et al, 1983;Nichols, 1981). Funding is a perennial concern in education.…”

“…This is especially true in interdisciplinary education, where funding agencies are no more attuned to education that crosses the traditional disciplinary lines and administrative structures than are educational institutions. Interdisciplinary programs often are funded by federal sources (Euster, 1985;Flemming-Troupe, 1984;Grabowski et al, 1982;Nichols, 1981;Romaniuk & Parham, 1983;Shriner et al, 1983), occasionally by the state (Shriner et al, 1983) or private foundations (Flemming-Troupe, 1984), and sometimes are fortunate enough to have universities take responsibility for this nontraditional education (Molinari et al, 1983;Nichols, 1981;Stotts & Bolton, 1981). At other times interested faculty and departments contribute their energies and time to this educational endeavor to which they are committed (Flemming-Troupe, 1984;Satin, Jette, Barnard, & Howe, 1985).…”