Health professions education and public policy: a research agenda.

The Work Group on the Education of the Health Professions and the Nation's Health offers the theme of discontinuity to describe who so little useful knowledge has been derived from research in this area and to suggest a more productive approach for future studies. Discontinuities are evident amoung the needs of patients and populations and how professionals practice what is taught in professional schools. The work group recommends seven areas for study in the expectation that new information might alleviate these discontinuities.