The case for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Abstract

With the complexity of modern societal and health issues, and with the knowledge explosion and concomitant escalation of specialization and fragmentation, interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork will take on ever-increasing importance in the years ahead. For cooperation to become a generally accepted policy, there needs to be full understanding of interdisciplinarity and what promotes or hinders it. Resocialization, training, and new skills will be required of educators, practitioners, and administrators. Only then will faculty participate in and teach, practitioners practice, and institutions support interdisciplinary collaboration.