Section 1--The Value of Psychology in Health Professional Education

The education of nurses, midwives and allied health care professionals in the UK is guided by professional bodies and the over arching Health Professionals Council (HPC)/Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Each of these professional bodies provides regulatory frameworks and guidance notes on the educational content of the degree level programmes that underpin the included profession. The professional and regulatory bodies oversee the educational requirements of the individual professions and suggest the key topics and curriculum content that have to be both studied and completed in order for the individual student to be considered a proficient practitioner in that area. These regulatory frameworks and the guidance from the professional bodies all mention the need for psychology to be contained within the educational experience. However, as a general rule there is, unsurprisingly, a greater focus on other topics within the curriculum for health care professionals. Why is this? Why isn't psychology a core subject? Why shouldn't psychology be a central focus within the health care curriculum? In this paper, the author explores these issues, with a focus on the place of psychology within the health care professionals' curriculum. Specifically, the author examines (1) the nature of curriculum content of the health care professionals; (2) why curriculum content is important; (3) studies of curriculum content; and (4) how the curriculum content should be chosen. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)