Educating the public health work force for the 21st century

Public health has historically been an activity of government agencies dealing with populations and environments to prevent disease and promote health, whereas medical care has provided clinical care for individual patients. In the new era of health care reform and managed care settings, the roles of medical care and public health personnel are likely to overlap, with public health workers providing more clinical care and clinicians being increasingly concerned with communities and populations. Public health workers will need to be educated to respond to this challenge. New curricula and modes of learning must be developed to help them cope with this evolving situation.