The evolution, present status, future directions, and external forces affecting health professions education are reviewed in this 25 chapter book. Guidelines are set forth for sound practices and policies for innovative and responsive health care. The authors assess how major economic, social, political, demographic, and technological changes are revolutionizing the health care system and creating a need for new priorities. They detail ways that the major health fields (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and public health) have changed over the last two decades. Using data from educational research, they examine benefits, drawbacks, and impacts on practice of new approaches to admissions, curriculum, instruction, student evaluation, and faculty development. Specific policy recommendations are offered for academic health centers to meet critical challenges. The chapters are grouped in the following four categories: (1) trends and priorities in health professions education; (2) research on health professions education: findings and implications; (3) forces for change in health professions education; and (4) policy recommendations for improving health professions education. The book is indexed and contains extensives tables and references. (LB)