Commentary: educating the present and future health care workforce to provide care to populations.

The crisis of the rising cost of health care in the United States is stimulating major changes in the way care is being delivered. New models such as patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations are being developed with the expectation that health care professionals will address and improve the health of populations. Electronic health records and interprofessional teams will be critical to achieving the goal of better health.

The roles of healthcare professionals in implementing clinical prevention and population health.

Across the health disciplines, clinical prevention and population health activities increasingly are recognized as integral to the practice of their professions. Most of the major clinical health professions organizations have begun incorporating clinical prevention and population health activities and services into educational curricula, the accreditation process, and training to affect clinical practice. Students in each health profession need to understand the roles played by those in other health professions.

Model approaches for advancing interprofessional prevention education.

Healthy People 2010 included an objective to "increase the proportion of … health professional training schools whose basic curriculum for healthcare providers includes the core competencies in health promotion and disease prevention." Interprofessional prevention education has been seen by the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force as a key strategy for achieving this objective and strengthening prevention content in health professions education programs. To fulfill these aims, the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research sponsored the Institute for Interprofessional Prevention Education in 2007 and in 2008.

Healthy People 2020 and Education for Health: what are the objectives?

The Education for Health framework is designed as an educational roadmap for Healthy People 2020. It aims to connect the educational phases and suggests overall educational strategies needed to educate health professionals and the public to achieve a healthier America. The framework seeks to develop a seamless approach to prevention and population health education from Pre-K through graduate school.

Evidence-based public health education as preparation for medical school.

The Institute of Medicine has recommended that all undergraduates have access to public health education. An evidence-based public health framework including curricula such as "Public Health 101" and "Epidemiology 101" was recommended for all colleges and universities by arts and sciences, public health, and clinical health professions educators as part of the Consensus Conference on Undergraduate Public Health Education. These courses should foster critical thinking whereby students learn to broadly frame options, critically analyze data, and understand the uncertainties that remain.

Oral cancer prevention and early detection: using the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework to guide the training of health professional students.

Background: Teaching cancer prevention and detection is important in health professional education. It is desirable to select a comprehensive framework for teaching oral cancer (OC) prevention and detection skills.

Methods: The PRECEDE-PROCEED model was used to design a randomized pretest and posttest study of the OC prevention and detection skills of dental students (n = 104).

Use of the OSCE to evaluate brief communication skills training for dental students.

Although communications competency is recommended by the American Dental Education Association, only a few (n=5) dental schools report evaluating students' skills using a competency examination for communication. This study used an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to evaluate dental students' competency in interpersonal and tobacco cessation communication skills. All students were evaluated on their interpersonal communication skills at baseline and at six months post-OSCE by standardized patients and on their tobacco cessation communication skills by two independent raters.

Race, rural residence, and control of diabetes and hypertension.

Purpose: African Americans are at increased risk for diabetes mellitus and hypertension, and rural residents have historically had decreased access to care. It is unclear whether living in a rural area and being African American confers added risks for diagnosis and control of diabetes and hypertension. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and hypertension, as well as control of both conditions, among rural and urban African Americans and whites.

Clinical prevention and population health: curriculum framework for health professions.

The Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework is the initial product of the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force convened by the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the Association of Academic Health Centers. The Task Force includes representatives of allopathic and osteopathic medicine, nursing and nurse practitioners, dentistry, pharmacy, and physician assistants. The Task Force aims to accomplish the Healthy People 2010 goal of increasing the prevention content of clinical health professional education.

Medical students' perceptions of rural practice following a rural clerkship.

Background And Objectives: Evidence suggests that rural experiences can positively influence students' preferences for rural practice. This study examined changes in students' perceptions toward rural primary care following a required rural clerkship.

Methods: Third-year students completed pre- and post-clerkship questionnaire items assessing their beliefs about primary care physicians who practice in rural communities in comparison with their urban/suburban counterparts.

Wellness and prevention.

Background And Objectives: The importance of wellness and prevention in medical education is well documented. This report discusses the educational innovations in wellness and prevention that were implemented as part of the Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century (UME-21) project.

Methods: Eight partner schools and four of the 10 associate partner schools provided specific information about learning objectives, content, and methods used in incorporating wellness and prevention into the curriculum.

Is an elevated serum transferrin saturation associated with the development of diabetes?

Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a common comorbid condition of hemochromatosis and is often identified as a complication of untreated hemochromatosis. However, there are few primary data examining the development of diabetes secondary to hemochromatosis. Our objective was to determine the likelihood of developing diabetes in a nationally representative cohort of patients who have an elevated serum transferrin saturation rate but no current diagnosis of diabetes.