Trust Me, I’m ‘The Doctor’: Bridging Disciplinary Education and Interdisciplinary Professionalism

This chapter will explore the issue of PBL and interdisciplinarity by way of medical education. It has been claimed that a PBL approach in medical education programs fosters the development of specific competencies and acquaintances that enable students to meet the increasing requirements for interdisciplinary professionalism within the health care sector. However, for a PBL program to actually enact this interdisciplinary character and purpose is a difficult task, since it clashes with the fundamental character and purpose of university education, which is based on scientific disciplinarity. The practical result of the PBL approach tends to be a multidisciplinary construction and execution rather than a truly interdisciplinary one. In order to fulfil the need to bridge education and professional practice, universities and PBL pedagogy should focus more intensively on the composition and abilities of staff in medical education programs rather than focusing on the students’ self-directed learning processes or creating pre-constructed cases and curricula. The staff, serving as both role models and assessors, and being trained researchers, represent disciplinarity. However, they should allow students to pursue an interdisciplinary agenda, and show appreciation and recognition when they do so.