 |
|
     |
|
 |
MED STUDENTS TO GET A DOSE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
The evidence just keeps piling up: Behavioral, social and psychological factors have a significant impact on health. The problem is that evidence is piling up on the research side of things and not making its way to health care workers who could put this information to good use. Could social and behavioral science training in medical school be one way that this knowledge can be put to use to improve public health?
NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is sponsoring an Institute of Medicine study to explore the best way to introduce this training into the curriculum. The study committee met for the first time Dec. 11 in Washington to discuss its agenda and hear what the sponsors envisioned for the project.
Lawrence Fine of OBSSR asked the group to focus on methods that would increase the likelihood that behavioral research will be used by clinicians, rather than striving for a consensus on curriculum topics.
"Clearly there's a lot of research now that says, 'Yes, we can change behaviors,'" Fine said. "Yet most of these students have the view upon entering medical school that behavior can't be changed."
Fine urged the group to consider programs like those at the University of Rochester and the University of California, San Francisco, as excellent examples of how social and behavioral sciences can be integrated into medical training.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation representatives Tracy Orleans and Kim Lochner also spoke to the committee, praising its diversity and expertise in both research and clinical training.
The committee will issue a final report on the project in the spring of 2004. Lauren Honess-Morreale, IOM study director for the project, said that the committee will gather information from a variety of experts and interested organizations as they proceed with their work.
For more information on the project and committee members, visit www.nationalacademies.org and click on "Current Projects." The project title is "Introducing Social and Behavioral Sciences into Medical School Curricula."
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||||
