OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN EDUCATING COMMUNITY-RESPONSIVE PHYSICIANS

Medical educators, funders, and policy makers are placing greater emph asis on educating physicians-in-training to provide community-responsi ve care and to participate in community-focused health-promotion and d isease-prevention efforts. The MCP lozenge Hahnemann School of Medicin e requires all first-year students to work in the community on project s involving health education, needs and resource assessment, advocacy, outreach, and other community health skills. The Department of Commun ity and Preventive Medicine at MCP lozenge Hahnemann directs these req uired courses, as well as other elective programs that provide student s the opportunity to develop community health competencies. This artic le summarizes key elements of these educational activities and discuss es challenges we have encountered developing and implementing these ac tivities and our responses. Finally, we suggest some issues and questi ons deserving further exploration, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): co mmunity medicine; health promotion; prevention; education, medical; pa tient advocacy.