Education for the health professions is in need of a major overhaul...
Clinical education simply has not kept pace with or been responsive enough to shifting patient demographics and desires, changing health system expectations, evolving practice requirements and staffing arrangements, new information, a focus on improving quality, or new technologies (Institute of Medicine, 2001).
While clinicians are trained to use an array of cutting-edge technologies related to care delivery, they often are not provided a basic understanding in informatics. Training in this area would, for example, enable clinicians to easily access the latest literature on a baffling illness faced by one of their patients or to use computerized order entry systems that automatically flag pharmaceutical contraindications and errors.
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An entire online e-book about the available free to browse from the National Academies Press (2003).
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Written by the Board on Health Care Services and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. |
Introduction
Many organizations, experts, health professionals, and, increasingly, the American public question whether health care can be delivered under the existing health care system, noting that health care today harms too frequently and consistently fails to deliver its potential benefits. Studies by expert bodies first documented the serious and pervasive nature of the quality problem with reports of overuse of services, such as excessive prescribing of antibiotics to children; misuse of services, such as incorrect dosages of drugs being administered to patients; and underuse of services, such as not employing effective prevention strategies with patients. Such errors result in tens of thousands of Americans dying each year and hundreds of thousands suffering or being sick.
Such problems occur because of the system's inability to translate knowledge into practice, to apply new technology safely and appropriately, and to make best use of its resources - both financial and human. Addressing the challenges will require profound changes in how health systems are designed. At the heart of such systems are the skilled health care professionals without whom such a redesign could not take place. Preparing health care professionals to take on this task requires a common vision across professions centered on a commitment to, first and foremost, meeting patients' needs. All health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics.
Click to Read more about Health Professions Education in the National Research Council's online version of this free to read book.
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