Racial-ethnic diversity in allied health: the continuing challenge.

Despite gains over the last few decades, the racial-ethnic diversity of health professionals has not kept pace with demographic changes in the general population of the United States, with significant consequences for the health of minority populations and access to health care services. We analyzed data for allied health educational programs accredited in 1989-90 and 2006-07, with particular attention to the race/ethnicity of enrollments, attrition, and graduates and the types of institutions that were more or less likely to have increased diversity over the time period. Our data show that blacks and Hispanics have higher attrition rates than whites and Asian or Pacific Islanders. In addition, federal institutions and for-profit institutions have higher rates of student racial/ethnic diversity, and both have become more diverse over time, although for-profit institutions have higher attrition rates than other types of institutions. Because minority students are more likely to attend for-profit institutions, the higher attrition rate at these institutions versus other types of institutions merits continued attention and additional study. At the same time, all institutions must direct resources toward increasing diversity and ensuring higher graduation rates among racial/ethnic minority students.

Emergency preparedness for residency/fellowship programs: lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina and applied during Hurricane Ike.

When it struck the US Gulf Coast in 2005, Hurricane Katrina severely disrupted many graduate medical education residency/fellowship programs in the region and the training of hundreds of residents/fellows. Despite the work of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in responding to this natural disaster and facilitating communication and transfer of residents/fellows to other unaffected training programs, the storm exposed the gaps in the existing system. Subsequently, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, with the aid of its member organizations, including the American Medical Association, developed a new disaster recovery plan to allow for a more rapid, effective response to future catastrophic events. These policies were instrumental in the rapid relocation of 597 residents/fellows from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston after the landfall of Hurricane Ike in September 2008. As a further accommodation to affected trainees, medical certification boards should be as flexible as possible in waiving continuity requirements in the event of a disaster that affects residency/fellowship programs.

Coming together, moving apart: a history of the term allied health in education, accreditation, and practice.

In recent years, several groups, including the physician assistant, health information management, ophthalmic medical technician/technologist, and athletic training review committees, have left the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) system to form their own, profession-specific accrediting bodies. Their motivation was typically a desire for greater professional visibility and autonomy. Combined, these professions represented one third of the CAAHEP's programs. This article reviews the history of allied health and examines current attempts to bring cohesion and identity to this increasingly fractured segment of the U.S. health care system.