The role of veterinary medicine in an interdisciplinary family health course.

First-year students from five health professions colleges engaged in a team-taught interdisciplinary family health course located in a community-based setting. This descriptive account of their experiences describes the implications of interdisciplinary education for student learning with an emphasis on the health care concerns of the volunteer families and their companion animals that participated in the Interdisciplinary Family Health course. The authors underscore the potential of interdisciplinary course work for the enrichment of the educational process, with collaboration between veterinary and other health professions, including the disciplines of medicine, nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, physical therapy, dental, social work, and the larger community, by providing an emphasis on family health and companion-animal care.