Global Social Movement Needed for Change
“We will need many years and a global social movement” to make the necessary changes in the education of health professionals, said Harvard School of Public Health Dean Julio Frenk, in the spring/summer issue of the Harvard Public Health Review. Frenk points out in “A Cure for Professional Education” that the Flexner Report came out in 1910, but took decades and much public outrage before its recommendations were implemented.
The article highlighs some of the findings of the Commission Report, such as the key role of interprofessionalism. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals need to interact more frequently during training and develop competencies to work as an effective team.
“Health care is a labor-intensive and talent-driven activity,” says Frenk. “We simply have to spend more training these individuals, and do a better job of educating them for 21st-century needs.”
Read the whole article here.