healthy people

Clinical Prevention and Population Health in Health Professions Education: Tackling the Social Determinants of Health

 

08/08/2018 10:00 AM EDT

 

How do we create a future healthcare workforce dedicated to improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities across populations? Most fundamentally, we must educate health professions students about the importance of prevention, the social determinants of health, and give them the skills needed to function effectively in interprofessional teams. There is increasing recognition among educators and policymakers that the social determinants of health (SDOH) and prevention-focused strategies are important to address community health issues and achieve health equity. Health equity is defined by Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) as “attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and health care disparities.” This requires addressing social and environmental determinants through both broad and targeted approaches focused on communities experiencing the greatest disparities.

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