What is community and why is it important?

[rollingstone27]

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I was doing some research on the direction medicine is taking for the future, in terms of improving the health care system. The main themes I found were emphasis on collaboration and community, with physicians in academic medicine leading the efforts. I am having trouble tying everything together and organizing my thoughts. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can help me out?

So what exactly is community in this sense? Why is it so important that future health care professionals pay more attention to communities? How does it relate to increasing access to health care for underrepresented and underserved populations?

 

[TxResident]

Are you asking us what a community specifically is?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define:+community


Edit: I'd assume they mean physicians to be the leaders of their community, informing them of risks and benefits of various things. Maybe they think doctors are becoming further and further away from their patients and they need to get closer to their patients. In regards to underrepresented and underserved, not sure...

 

[LizzyM]

I was doing some research on the direction medicine is taking for the future, in terms of improving the health care system. The main themes I found were emphasis on collaboration and community, with physicians in academic medicine leading the efforts. I am having trouble tying everything together and organizing my thoughts. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can help me out?

So what exactly is community in this sense? Why is it so important that future health care professionals pay more attention to communities? How does it relate to increasing access to health care for underrepresented and underserved populations?

Could you be reading about the need for "community based participatory research"?

http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/commbas.html

These case studies might be helpful:
http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/pdf_files/CBPR_final.pdf

 

[MicroSteph]

A lot of public health programs are focused on specific communities (an underprivileged neighborhood, a certain demographic, a specific disease). I imagine the community in this sense is how you define the population you want to work for. In addition, bringing these individuals together for health care can create other networking opportunities to improve the overall health of the community in other ways (support systems).