Community cooperation among a university, a community college, a hospital, and a high school: a new model for allied health education.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, School of Allied Health Sciences, has designed and established a linkage plan that could help solve the health personnel shortages in many cities. This plan joins several schools to (1) stimulate the implementation of programs to provide limited numbers of trained health professionals, (2) establish a coordinated system whereby technologists and technicians can be trained, (3) prepare qualified persons to staff the local hospitals, and (4) provide a ladder for advancing motivated and qualified health professionals. Coordination of efforts among the university, the seven-member Dallas Community College District, and the Dallas Independent School District's High School for Health Professions facilitates solid academic instruction at these institutions, which is followed by well-supervised clinical experiences in the local hospitals under highly qualified professionals. To date, the program includes the education of nuclear medicine technologists, radiation therapy technologists, electroencephalographic technologists, and histologic technicians. This mode of education is one solution to the health professional shortage.