THE PRINCIPAL PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT WAS TO DEVELOP A MODEL HEALTH OCCUPATIONS TRAINING PROGRAM. LISTS OF TASKS PERFORMED BY NURSE AIDES, PRACTICAL NURSES, AND SURGICAL TECHNICIANS WERE DEVELOPED THROUGH (1) INTERVIEWS WITH WORKERS AND JOB SPECIALISTS, (2) A STUDY OF HIRING REQUIREMENTS, JOB SPECIFICATIONS, AND DAILY ACTIVITY CHARTS, AND (3) OBSERVATIONS BY THE RESEARCH STAFF. THESE LISTS WERE RATED BY 954 WORKERS AND SUPERVISORS IN 43 AREA HEALTH SERVICE INSTITUTIONS. WORKERS RATED THE FREQUENCY OF PERFORMANCE AND SUPERVISORS THE CRITICALITY OF EACH TASK. TASKS REPORTED AS PERFORMED BY NO FEWER THAN 50 PERCENT OF THE WORKERS AND AS A FUNCTION OF THE WORKER BY NO FEWER THAN 50 PERCENT OF THE SUPERVISORS WERE ANALYZED. FROM THESE, 61 TASKS COMMON TO THE THREE OCCUPATIONS WERE USED AS THE BASIS OF THE CORE CURRICULUM. THE CURRICULUM WAS DEMONSTRATED IN A 6-WEEK NURSE AIDE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR 22 STUDENTS IN TWO GROUPS AS OPPOSED TO THE CONVENTIONAL 8 WEEKS. A HANDBOOK OF STEP-BY-STEP BASIC NURSING PROCEDURES, DEVELOPED DURING THE PREPARATORY STAGE, WAS UTILIZED AND FURTHER DEVELOPED DURING AND FOLLOWING THE COURSE. ON PERFORMANCE TESTS GROUPS IN THE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM HAD A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER MEAN THAN THE 14 STUDENTS IN TWO CONTROL GROUPS IN THE 8-WEEK CONVENTIONAL PROGRAM, AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS' SCORES WERE CONSISTENTLY HIGH ON THE WRITTEN TESTS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THE PROGRAM WAS SUCCESSFUL AND THAT THE MODEL IS SUITABLE AS A BASIC DESIGN FOR OTHER PARAMEDICAL TRAINING PROGRAMS. VOLUME II OF THE "FINAL REPORT" IS AVAILABLE AS VT 005 512. (JK)