A transdisciplinary approach to older adults’ care in a Canadian primary healthcare setting: exploring the possibility in an interprofessional education program

Older adults often have multiple health concerns, spanning both physical and psychosocial domains. Team-based healthcare approaches are widely recognized as the best strategy for managing the varied and complex challenges that this creates. It improves quality of life, reduces adverse events, mortality and the length of stay in the hospital and increases older adults’ satisfaction with service provision. Team-based health-care delivery has been imagined in several ways with transdisciplinary approaches conceptualized as the most effective. Transdisciplinary care encompasses shared knowledge, skills and decision-making, encouraging patient-centered care, joint assessment, role release and a unified comprehensive care framework. While transdisciplinary care for older adults has been theorized, its practical application is still evolving and remains under-researched. This doctoral research explores the transdisciplinary care approach and the necessary health profession’s education antecedents in the context of Ontario’s Family Health Teams and aims to develop knowledge that will support the optimized care of older adults.