The above links will take you to the Center for the Health Professions site.

December. 2002
Centering On...the Future of the Practice of Medicine

California's health care landscape is often viewed as a harbinger of things to come for the nation's health care system. This month the Center for the Health Professions looks at the practice of medicine in California.

Click here for a message from Ed O'Neil, the Director of the Center for the Health Professions.

November. 2002
Centering On...the majority of the health care workforce

A few weeks ago I had the honor of addressing the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions at its annual meeting. Both the Pew Commission and the Center for the Health Professions have been actively involved with the allied health community and the over two hundred different professions and occupations that they represent. Over the years I have come to recognize the ways in which these professionals are invisible to many policymakers. However, much like the crisis brewing within the nursing community, there are pressing issues in our allied health workforce; perhaps even greater, and better hidden.

Click here for a message from Ed O'Neil, the Director of the Center for the Health Professions.

October. 2002
Centering On...Us

This month we are "Centering on..." us - the Center for the Health Professions. This past June marked ten years that the Center for the Health Professions has been part of the Dental, Medical, Nursing and Pharmacy schools at the University of California, San Francisco. Since its inception the Center has been committed to assisting health care professionals, health professions schools, care delivery organizations, and public policy makers respond to the challenges of educating and managing a health care workforce capable of improving the health of people and their communities.

Please click here for a message from Ed O'Neil, the Center's Director.

To celebrate this momentous occasion we are hosting a symposium on October 14th that will examine some of the most critical issues that will confront health workforce in California in the coming years.

For more information on our Anniversary Symposium, please click here.

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September. 2002
Centering On...Pharmacy

This month the Center for Health the Professions focuses on pharmacy staffing.

Did you know that…

• pharmacy is the third largest health profession in the US?
• between 1993 and 2000 drug costs as a percentage of US health expenditures doubled?
• in a recent national hospital survey 94% of respondents perceived a shortage of pharmacists in their area?
• a new Center for the Health Professions Issue Brief on pharmacy staffing is now available?

For a message from the Center for Health the Professions' director and more information about this topic click HERE.

To access the new issue brief on pharmacy staffing click HERE.

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August. 2002
Centering On...California's Open Door Providers

This month the Center for the Health Professions focuses on the public hospitals, health systems and community clinics that anchor California's health "safety net."

Did you know…?

• 15% of children and 22% of adults in California are uninsured
• while having only 15% licensed beds in California, public hospitals provide over 87% of indigent inpatient care
• in California less than 1 in 5 community clinic patients pay for his or her services through private insurance or out of pocket
• a new report on the workforce of California's open door institutions is now available

For a message from the Center for Health the Professions' Director about this topic, click here.

For a primer on California's Open Door Providers click here.

To read the CWI's new report on California's Open Door Providers click here.

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July. 2002
Centering On...Partnership

This month the Center for the Health Professions focuses on the principles of partnership that underlie successful collaborations to improve health. Nine principles inform the work of the Center's programs in service-learning, community-based participatory research and community-campus partnerships.

These principles can be applied in a number of ways to strengthen the process and outcome of partnerships:

• as a partnership is forming, the principles can serve a road map for significant issues that need to be addressed up-front by all partners
• as a partnership begins to implement projects and programs, the principles can focus discussion of progress, successes and areas of improvement
• as a sustained partnership reflects on it's past and future, the principles can help to guide assessment and improvement activities.

For a message from the Center for the Health Professions' Director and more information about this topic, click here.

June. 2002
Centering On...Leadership

This month the Center for the Health Professions focuses on the cardinal importance of leadership to our nation's health care. Below are eight core leadership competencies that inform the work of the Center's leadership programs.

In order to lead effectively one must:

• Build and adapt a compelling vision and strategy
• Create and manage alliances, partnerships and acquisitions
• Use population based science in the day to day management of care
• Use information systems to add power to new clinical and organizational arrangements
• Communicate consistent messages about vision, mission, and alignment
• Focus on the human resources processes as the key to re-engineering the health production function
• Sustain a culture that is marked by innovation and creativity
• Build the capacity to manage change

For a message from the Center for the Health Professions' Director and more information about this topic click here.

May. 2002
Centering On...Culturally Competent Health Care

Disparities of health outcomes associated with ethnicity and the rapid
diversification of the US population are daunting concerns confronting
the nation. But if we address these as problems rather than seeing them
as opportunities we may be defeated before we begin.

It would serve us well to remember that the current diversification of our society returns us to the mainstream of the American experience. This is not to make the trite but true observation that with the exception of the native population we are a nation of immigrants, but to recognize our recent history with regard to social and ethnic diversity is representative of our broader history. Prior to 1930 we carried a more heavily foreign born population than we did in the following years of the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1930 the annual immigration rate was about 7 immigrants per 1,000 US population. Following the immigration law changes the rate fell to less than 2 per 1000 until the 1980s. Over the past two decades our rate of immigration has climbed back to about a third of what it was at the beginning of the century. In many ways the current pattern of immigration and our population profile are more similar to what they were for most of the American past.

March. 2002
Registration is underway for Community-Campus Partnerships for Health's 6th annual conference, "The Partnership as the Leverage Point for Change." Join us in Miami from May 4-7, 2002 for what promises to be a great line-up of plenary speakers, skill-building workshops, posters, exhibits, community site visits and more. The registration brochure and other information on the conference is available on our web site or register on-line at meetingmatters.com. Among the conference offerings, I would like to draw your attention to the special pre-conference workshop we are co-sponsoring with the Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health.

Some of you may recall the opening keynote presentation by Roz Lasker, director of the Center, at the CCPH conference in April 2000 (the proceedings are available on our web site). The Center has tested and validated a partnership functioning assessment tool that will be a centerpiece of this training workshop. Partnerships who register for the workshop by March 15, 2002 will have an opportunity to complete the tool and receive a customized report on the strengths and areas of improvement for their partnership (others will receive the tool but not the customized report).

February. 2002
Society currently confronts an increasing number of issues surrounding medical research policy that require social and ethical considerations. Unfortunately, much of society is unequipped to process and comprehend these issues without help from both policymakers and scientists. Unassailable scientific data is imperative in creating sound policy and scientists must be proactive in their attempt to ensure that society makes political decisions based on the most current and credible information available.

According to a National Science Foundation (NSF) report, while 70% of American adults say they are "interested" in science only 48% believe they are "informed" about scientific issues. Even more notable is the lack of scientific knowledge that extends to those who possess political power; only 20 of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, two in the Senate and none in the Cabinet have a science or engineering background.

January. 2002
Some of the most exciting and promising areas of health care today can be found outside allopathic biomedical models. Acupuncture, naturopathy and herbal medicine are just a few examples of the range of models of care that offer new hope. Just what are these unconventional care models all about? How are the professionals trained? What services do they offer? How is the public protected from incompetent care? To date there has been no standard format for asking or answering these questions. This month's issue brief takes a closer look at evaluating emerging health professions.

Unfortunately these choices must often be based on limited information. Questions abound but clear answers are hard to find. Any difficulty the average layperson has defining allopathic medicine is multiplied when asked to define any of the CAM professions. Legislators, insurers and members of the established health professions are frequently just as unsure. Just what are these unconventional care models all about? How are the professionals trained? What services do they offer? How is the public protected from incompetent care?