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On June 17-18, 2002 over 150 leaders and experts from health professions education, regulation, policy, advocacy, quality, and industry attended the Health Professions Education Summit to discuss and help the committee develop strategies for restructuring clinical education to be consistent with the principles of the 21st-century health system.

The report says that doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals are not being adequately prepared to provide the highest quality and safest medical care possible, and there is insufficient assessment of their ongoing proficiency.

Educators and accreditation, licensing and certification organizations should ensure that students and working professionals develop and maintain proficiency in five core areas:

• delivering patient-centered care
• working as part of interdisciplinary teams
• practicing evidence-based medicine
• focusing on quality improvement and
• using information technology

Note: Workshop Summaries contain the opinion of the presenters, but do NOT reflect the conclusions of the Institute of Medicine.

Copyright 2003 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.