How Health Education Affects Your Health

Over the long term prevention saves lives and money. Preventive care should have a primary focus from cradle to grave. Studies to prove its efficacy in combination with evidence-based guidelines deserve attention. A study to determine if the history and physical exam, lab tests, body scan, and other diagnostic tests helps in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease would probably show us better overall outcomes as well as less cost than if the conditions were not detected early.

EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME. Public education begins at home, in schools, and in the community (e.g. medical facilities, church, stores). Education focused on self management of asthma has been shown to improve clinical outcomes (British Medical Journal, June 2003). Basic medicine should start formally at the preschool level. Thereafter, basic classes in medicine and interactive education such as a student presenting a medical project, or volunteering in a medical capacity, should also be available. This can be used as education credits in high school and college. Our children are our future and our inspiration. Let's see their medical visions for America’s health system today!

EDUCATION SHOULD BE FREE. In Qatar this is the case.  Incidentally, health care is free there, too. They have developed a relationship with several of our medical schools, and have actual campuses. Let’s build on this, and in turn study with them to see how we can make our system better...and free. We live in a nation where many choose military service to get a free education. This is an enormous commitment to make for something everyone is entitled to.

Modifying the education process hopefully will provide more doctors, and make more want to be doctors. Funding a study on the correlation of the length of medical training with quality of job performance after training would tell if three years of medical
school be as good as four. If so, this will lead to earlier entry into the actual job as doctor with less cost for university and student = more appealing for people to seek this as their occupation = more doctors, and other health care workers. It should be easier for a health care worker to "upgrade" to a doctor. For example, a physician assistant that wants to be a doctor should not be expected to study another four years. The high cost for education becomes a large debt to be paid back on a lower salary while training. The cost for medical school is approaching $100,000*. An option is to expand the scope of practice for health providers that are experienced with clinical skills near the physician level to provide the same services. These will be the "diagnosticians".

The IOM report "Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality" (April 2003), has found that health care professionals "are not being adequately prepared to provide the best and safest medical care possible, and there is insufficient assessment of their ongoing proficiency". They propose that the education process will be focused on five areas: delivery of patient-centered care, working as a team member that is interdisciplinary, use of evidence- based protocols, the application of quality measures, and the use of IT. Oversight by groups that license, accredit, and certify will be used to improve education for health providers. New standards that accurately assess proficiency of skills are being developed and used. As this is developed, the licensing system should be addressed to ensure uniformity. It would make sense for health care professionals to have one license for practice in all states. Standards for licensing should be the same in all states. This allows for a seamless integration of health provider service and care, as well as a more effective use of these services. Like providers, patients should be able to obtain medical care in any state. That way a patient has the choice of going anywhere in the USA if they are unable to get the care they need in a timely manner in their state of primary residence. The European Union will allow patients to seek free medical care in any of the countries in its union effective 2004 (Canadian Medical Association).

As the population ages there will be a greater need for those with more experience in geriatrics, and chronic multisystem illness.  Medical schools and the federal government will need to increase focus in this direction. The CDC notes that the people over 65 years old will increase from 35 to 70 million by the year 2030.

Baby boomers start retiring in 2011. This is about 12% of
population increasing to 20%. The Alliance for Aging estimates a need for 36,000 geriatricians (now there are about 9,000 with an estimated drop to 6,000 by 2004). Changes in the medical education process must be made to increase the overall number of qualified health care workers necessary to provide for all.

by J. L. Richardson, M.D.
excerpt from "Building An American Health System", 2003

*average debt for medical school in 2010 was $158,000 http://bit.ly/RA0QQZ