Interdisciplinary Health Care Team
In the course of an inpatient stay in a typical U.S. hospital, a single patient may receive care directly from several different types of health care professionals and support staff. Another dozen health care professionals may provide behind-the-scenes support that assists with the patient’s care. If the patient undergoes surgery or another major procedure, even more health care professionals may become directly or indirectly involved in that patient’s care. Together, these care providers apply a wide range of specialized knowledge and experience all for one purpose: to provide patients with the very best health care possible.
The Interdisciplinary Health Care Team is an educational resource designed to introduce international medical graduates (IMGs) to this concept of teamwork in the U.S. medical system and to members of the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team.
Currently, this resource includes:
- An Introduction from Gerald P. Whelan, MD, FACEP, Director of ECFMG’s Acculturation Program.
- Profiles of the members of the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team—who they are, what they do, how they are supervised, what kinds of training and education they have, what certifications they need, what types of patients they work with, and how they become involved in a patient’s care. These profiles were developed by representatives of various health care professions that are part of the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team.
- The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Core Competencies for graduate medical education programs, which emphasize the need for teamwork on the part of residents.
- A Directory of Contributors to the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team resource.
As with all materials available at the ECFMG Acculturation Program website, the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team is a work in progress. New profiles will be added to the site as they become available. If you have suggestions for additional health care professionals to be added to this resource, please submit them for consideration to acculturation@ecfmg.org.
