This report is one of seven that identify major new and emerging technological advances expected to influence major vocational education program areas and to describe the programmatic implications in terms of skill-knowledge requirements, occupations most directly affected, and the anticipated diffusion rate. Chapter 1 considers technology as…

This booklet examines how the concept of the community health worker (a person chosen from the community and trained to function in the community in close relationship with the health care system) is being practiced in various developing countries. It also identifies the major problems and indicates how the contribution of the community health…

This report discusses a working group convened in Varna, Bulgaria, by the World Health Organization to examine trends, issues, and problems regarding assessment of health professional competence and to prepare guidance to improve existing arrangements. Following a summary of the proceedings, the main portion of the paper reports main findings and…

The value of a role in a profession is often tied to demand for and supply of practitioners in this role. Since a profession may seek to sustain its role's value by influencing supply of recognized practitioners, the National Commission for Health Certifying Agencies has included in its membership criteria a requirement for administrative…

A project examined the curriculum in the health occupations program to determine what curriculum changes will be necessary to keep pace with and anticipate advances in health occupations. A statewide Texas health occupations education review committee composed of employers, graduates, educators, a union representative, and representatives from…

Formal pre- and postdoctoral health professional educations are different. The competencies necessary in a continuing education setting may be unique to this setting or they may be modifications of skills used in the formal setting. This paper provides descriptions of rationales for these competencies. (Author/SSH)

The first phase of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Medical School Objectives Project, to develop consensus on the attributes medical students should possess on graduation, is reported. Each of the four identified attributes is explained, and the associated learning objectives are stated. Attributes are the physician must be…

As reform of American health services proceeds, there will be increasing pressure for reform of health professions education. Health professions must restructure their curricula to provide graduates with competencies for future systems. Every college and university has a role; each contributes to the pool of future health care professionals. (MSE)

This report describes the work of a task force of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Organization of Nurse Executives that was organized to delineate the competencies needed to provide for effective and efficient use of all workforce personnel and for more efficient use of the variety of programs that prepare nursing…

Entry-level skills needed of optometrists, as of allied health occupations practitioners, include thinking skills, communication skills, sensitivity to personal and professional values and ethics, awareness of self and individual social responsibility, lifelong learning skills and habits, interpersonal and group competence, and management…

Common complaints about physicians are that they don't care enough about patients, don't know enough to practice the best medicine, and don't do enough to maintain the public's trust. The best way for graduate medical education (GME) to address these complaints is to improve the educational content of residency programs. (MSE)

A study explored the notion that moral reasoning skills are important to the provision of pharmaceutical care. It compared the moral reasoning skills of two classes of pharmacy students with those of practitioners who scored high on measures of pharmaceutical care and clinical decision making. Implications for pharmacy school admissions and…

Social problems are manifested earlier at home and particularly on the job by alienated, depressed, estranged, dissatisfied, poorly motivated employees who steal or are frequently absent. Some say the education of the young must be specialized to ensure productivity, but emphasis on job requirements seems to be a backward view. Education should be…

Evidence gathered through interviews with members of trade associations, unions, professional societies, business, and industry as well as data obtained from the Department of Labor, congressional testimony, and publications of the commerical and trade press reveals that the shortage of skilled workers in America is reaching crisis proportions.…

Australia's Aged Care Act of 1997 mandates a number of key reforms aimed at ensuring consistency in the quality of care and well-being for all residents of aged care facilities. The law required residential aged care facilities to provide high-quality care within a framework of continuous improvement which requires aged care workers to perform the…