Social and academic values emphasizing individualism, competition, and unidisciplinary thinking affect the development of interdisciplinary programs. Interdisciplinary health care teams must be concerned with interprofessional and professional-client relationships and shared team values, which should be addressed in gerontological and geriatric…

Since the elderly are a significant population of health care consumers, health care professionals should be trained to deliver health services to them as effectively and humanely as possible. While the primary tool for delivery of health care services to people is human communication, there is evidence that the communication between the providers…

Health communication, gerontology/geriatrics, and the interdisciplinary team approach to health care are considered together in this paper as a critical field for communication research. The first section of the paper offers a definition of interdisciplinary health care teams, then reviews their goals, composition, history and training. The second…

Contains 16 articles exploring the following: the impact of sociodemographic change on long-term care; current concerns and future challenges in recruiting and retaining health care workers; the responses of social work, geriatric medicine, nurse practitioner, and allied health educators to the growing demand; and the increased need for volunteer,…