Department of Population Science and Policy, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USA.
Department of Family Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Popul Health Manag. 2023 Aug;26(4):268-274. doi: 10.1089/pop.2023.0047.
Schools of medicine are increasingly focusing on efforts beyond the immediate needs of individual patients and addressing the needs of whole populations. This study examined the characteristics of population health departments and related programs within, and affiliated with, schools of medicine and how these programs address the schools' educational, clinical care, research, and service missions. Structured reviews of school of medicine websites were used to identify population health departments and related programs. An on-line survey was distributed to a subset of these programs to capture details on their activities and organizational characteristics. The authors convened leaders of population health programs to elaborate on core themes. Of 154 school of medicine websites reviewed, 37 (24%) had affiliated population health programs, including 28 (18%) with distinct departments of population health. Departments reported a variety of teaching activities related to undergraduate medical education, graduate degree programs, and certificate programs addressing a variety of population health domains including public health, health administration, epidemiology, biostatistics, informatics, and research methods. Research was a core activity for most departments with significant support coming from federal funding, with many playing major roles in clinical and translational research institutes and cancer centers. Most departments had research, data sharing, and other collaborations with affiliated health systems. All departments engaged in community service activities, including activities supporting the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Population health programs are playing an increasingly important role in the teaching, clinical care, research, and community service missions in schools of medicine and academic medical centers.
医学院越来越注重超越个体患者的即时需求，并解决整个人群的需求。本研究考察了医学院内及其附属医院的人群健康部门和相关项目的特点，以及这些项目如何满足学校的教育、临床护理、研究和服务任务。通过对医学院校网站的结构审查，确定了人群健康部门和相关项目。对这些项目中的一部分进行了在线调查，以了解其活动和组织特征的详细信息。作者召集了人群健康项目的负责人来详细阐述核心主题。在审查的 154 个医学院校网站中，有 37 个（24%）有附属的人群健康项目，包括 28 个（18%）有独立的人群健康部门。这些部门报告了各种与本科医学教育、研究生学位项目以及涵盖公共卫生、卫生管理、流行病学、生物统计学、信息学和研究方法等多种人群健康领域的证书项目相关的教学活动。大多数部门的核心活动是研究，其中大部分资金来自联邦资助，许多部门在临床和转化研究所以及癌症中心中发挥着重要作用。大多数部门都与附属的卫生系统进行研究、数据共享和其他合作。所有部门都开展社区服务活动，包括支持应对 COVID-19 大流行的活动。人群健康项目在医学院和学术医疗中心的教学、临床护理、研究和社区服务任务中发挥着越来越重要的作用。
