Interdisciplinary Teams
You might wonder what in the world is an interdisciplinary team. After all, don't all healthcare professionals work with professionals in other disciplines?
In the NCNS program, an interdisciplinary team means something special. It means that everyone works together to provide the best possible care to the client and to the community. Interdisciplinary team members recognize that a focus on one area of health care, (for example, drug therapy) might leave other areas completely neglected (for example, nutrition or housing). By working as an interdisciplinary team, all of these issues can be addressed because you are collaborating with students from all disciplines.
If you participate in the NCNS program, you will learn to be a contributing team member. You will learn to use a method of group learning known as LTD or Learning Through Discussion. In this method, each team member reads the assigned article and uses a series of steps to learn the most from the article. For example, you identify and discuss the major themes and subtopics of the article, but you also are expected to relate the content of the article to your experiences. If you are reading about teamwork, you could describe how the article gave you insight into why other teams that you have worked on have been successful or not successful.
As part of your team experience, you serve a turn as facilitator for the case management or community health seminars. You have lots of opportunity to serve in leadership positions, such as organizing a meeting with community members, organizing the work of the student team or assuring that each team member knows their assignment and what they need to do. You also learn what it means to be a contributing team member by arriving on time, following through on tasks and so on.