The American Medical Association has announced the launch of a new “health sciences” textbook for medical school students, focusing on the transition towards value-based care and the skills physicians will need to navigate this new system, including using electronic health records.
According to an AMA blog post, “Health Systems Science” was coauthored by experts from the association and faculty from 11 of the 32 member schools in its Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. It aims to define the health sciences topics physicians and care delivery professionals need to know, rather than the focus on health administrators taken by other health sciences textbooks.
“We know that the way health care is being delivered is changing, but until now those changes have not been widely incorporated into the way we teach our physicians. Our medical schools are very good at preparing students for the basic and clinical sciences that are paramount to providing care to patients, but what is largely missing is how to deliver that care in a complex health system,” said AMA CEO James Madara, MD. “By working together with our Consortium schools, we are taking the right steps to prepare tomorrow’s physicians to be equipped to quickly adapt to the changing health care landscape and provide value-based care as soon as they enter practice.”
Major topics in the book include:
- Patient safety
- Quality improvement
- Teamwork and team science
- Leadership
- Clinical informatics
- Population health
- Socio-ecological determinants of health
- Health care policy and economics
The book is already being used in two of AMA’s consortium schools: Penn State College of Medicine and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
It will be officially available to all medical schools beginning in mid-December, according to the AMA. It can be preordered from the AMA Store and Elsevier, as well as from Amazon. The textbook retails for $59.99. AMA members may order it from the AMA Store for $54.99, and individual chapters can be purchased for $5.99 each.
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.