LOOSELY COUPLED SYSTEMS AS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING

Abstract

To make interdisciplinary team training (IDTT) effective, educators need to understand how it works. We suggest that loosely coupled systems theory accounts for IDTT in ways that traditional frameworks do not and that effective IDTT programs function as loosely coupled systems. Loosely coupled systems theory facilitates an understanding of interdisciplinary training as a system in which (a) some elements of the training program conflict; (b) the learning activities may be disjointed or confusing; and (c) the learning goals of the various participants, both trainees and instructors, may diverge. Loosely coupled systems theory explains why these are the circumstances of IDTT and reassures that such systems manage to survive and be successful not only in spite of their loosely coupled nature, but because of it.