Newspaper headlines underscore the challenges that the health professions face in this period of dramatic change in the American health care enterprise: critical shortages of nurses and other health professionals, tight budgets and rising health care costs, increasing public concern about patient safety and medical errors, and rising criticism of the quality of care that Americans receive, to name a few. Indeed, the health professions and health care industry are fighting to retain the public’s confidence that the . health care system can continue to be the world’s best
