Topic last updated Aug. 2006
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Addressing Issues
Professional Training: Preparing
Health Care Professionals for Systems Change
Background
Undergraduate,
graduate, and continuing education programs for physicians, nurses,
and other health care professionals need to prepare health care
providers to be effective participants in a new health care system.
Traditionally, "nothing about medical school prepares a physician
to take a leadership role with regard to changes in the system of
care."1
The focus of medical school has been understanding human biology,
the pathophysiology of disease, physical diagnosis and medical interviewing,
and to apply all of this to diagnose and care for individual patients.
Health care professionals are taught to do their very best within the
system and to perfect themselves by
advancing their clinical skills and knowledge every day. Making
a better system, however, requires analogous but somewhat different
skills from becoming a better provider of health care.1
This
section
Presents a review of concepts that will help health care professionals
and payers effectively contribute to the process of systems change:
-
understanding systems
- efficacy
vs. effectiveness
- individual
competency vs. system capability
-
clinical research vs. quality improvement
-
enumerative vs. analytic statistics.
Describes
three levels of clinical recommendations:
-
standards of care
-
practice guidelines
-
treatment options
Discusses
barriers to change in the areas of health care professional knowledge,
attitudes, and behavior.
Reviews
effective interventions for changing behavior to help health care professionals,
educators, payers, and employers use the most effective approaches
to implementing change.
Lists organizations involved in certifying diabetes educators, accrediting medical education programs, recertifying physicians, developing competencies, and providing continuing education for systems change activities.
Lists
resources and references that can provide a wealth of additional information.
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