Women's health education for medical students: an interdisciplinary response

Abstract

T he Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Education conference was convened to bring together leaders in undergraduate clinical education to develop models of interdisciplinary curriculum. The focus was on implementation; the methods brought together faculty who had been successful in discipline-based curricular innovation and who understood the importance of interdisciplinary education. Among the organizations represented at the meeting, “Chantilly” has become a sign of interdisciplinary collaboration. The event was an awakening to how much more can be accomplished by working together, across disciplines, than by the sum of our discipline-based efforts. The success of the conference was facilitated by the commitment to interdisciplinary activities by the clinical education organizations represented by the Alliance for Clinical Education and by agreement on common objectives for medical student education in women’s health. These common objectives were derived from analysis of written objectives such as the Essential Learning Objectives for women’s health education, which were published in the July 1996 issue (Vol 6:4) of Women’s Health Issues. The objectives and the methods for interdisciplinary collaboration described in these proceedings can be adapted for use within organizations, institutions, and courses. Thus, the event and the success repeats itself and becomes integrated into the curricula of our organizations and our medical schools.