THE road to better child health has been discussed in relation to the doctor and his training, health services and their distribution. We have dealt with the unavoidable question of costs. Particular attention has been given to some of the advantages and dangers of decentralization of pediatric education and services. Each of the various subjects has been discussed from the point of view of its bearing on the ultimate objective of better health for all children and the steps necessary to attain this goal.
Now, we may stand back from the many details of the picture, view the whole objectively and note its most outstanding features.
First is the fact that the improvement of child health depends primarily upon better training for all doctors who provide child care, general practitioners as well as specialists. This is the foundation without which the rest of the structure cannot stand.
The second dominant fact is the need for extending to outlying and isolated areas the high quality medical care of the medical centers, without at the same time diluting the service or training at the center.
The road to better medical care, therefore, begins at the medical center and extends outward through a network of integrated community hospitals and health centers, finally reaching the remote and heretofore isolated areas.
Inherent in all medical schools is a unique potential for rendering medical services as well as actually training physicians. The very nature of medical education—whereby doctors in training work under the tutelage of able specialists in the clinic, hospital ward, and out-patient department—provides medical services of high quality to people in the neighboring communities.
Episodes of medical care: nursing students' use of medical services.
