ETHNICITY, AGING, AND HEALTH - AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERIENCE

Recent trends in geriatric care have focused on the importance of team work through interdisciplinary interaction as a means of improving and maintaining the quality of life for clients and their families, while at the same time fostering professional growth of the health care pro viders. However the literature is sparse on how university students ar e prepared through interdisciplinary team approaches to work effective ly with geriatric clients in a diverse cultural environment. This arti cle discusses how one undergraduate course was developed and implement ed using an interdisciplinary focus to help students learn about ethni city, health, and older adults. To begin the interdisciplinary focus, an interdisciplinary advisory team was assembled. This team was instru mental in guiding the process of planning, implementing, and evaluatin g this course. Recommendations from both the students and the advisory team demonstrate that a combination of team leaning and multicultural education is essential to empower students to acquire skills for cros s-cultural work.