Teaching community health assessment skills in a problem-based format.

If physicians are able to understand the health status of populations they can use this understanding to develop targeted health care services for their patient populations or communities. Since 1991, the family practice residency program at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn has taught community health assessment using a problem-based format. During this four-week rotation, residents gather, classify, and analyze demographic and health data about a specific local population. They use these data and published research literature to create rates that they believe will help to illuminate the health status and health issues of their community. By the end of the rotation, the residents feel comfortable working with rates and understand both their usefulness and their limitations. This rotation also introduces them to the concept of population health and some of the skills necessary to understanding a population-based approach to health care.