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The educational needs of doctors delivering specialist services in the community

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The sharp division between specialist services provided in hospitals and generalist services provided in the community has become firmly institutionalised in the National Health Service. Patients do not recognise artificial demarcations between sectors in the way that many professionals do; what they want is coordinated, safe, high-quality services delivered, whenever possible, as close to their homes as possible by well-trained and committed health professionals. Two key educational challenges flow from this analysis.

Firstly, we need to focus on ensuring that there are clear and explicit standards underpinning the provision of specialist care in community settings. These standards need to reflect both the generic skills required to provide high-quality care (such as communication, leadership, teamwork and an understanding of the scientific basis of quality improvement), and the specific skills required to undertake whatever specialised practices might be moved into the community.

There must be no compromise . . . [Full text of this article]