An interdisciplinary team is necessary to
support, implement, and realize the potential of
nursing care improved by knowledge of the
unique needs of older adults. Those of us
educated—in school or in practice—to be geriatric
nurses are familiar with the members of the
geriatric interdisciplinary team and its functions.1
Similarly, we likely all can identify the ‘‘team’’ in
acute care. Unlike the relatively stable team in
a geriatric ambulatory or long-term residential
care setting, the acute care team is fluid and shifts
composition by location and need. The acute
care team comes together extemporaneously. A
patient is admitted to a physician or physician/
nurse practitioner service. The admitting service,
given the widespread use of hospitalists