What do you wish you were learning?

If you're like most students, you probably don't have much of a say over what you're learning in school. You may just be focused on making it through in one piece.

But are you learning the things you'll need to know after graduation?

During today's On Call teleconference, Dr. David B. Nash* listed five crucial skills that most health professions students aren't learning in school. These abilities included the following:

• Working effectively in teams
• Understanding work as a process
• Collecting, analyzing, and displaying data on the outcomes of care
• Working collaboratively with managers and patients
• Being able and willing to learn from mistakes

All these skills, Nash argued, are necessary if students are to improve care and patient safety.

Continue or join the conversation. What do you wish you were learning in school? Do you think the skills listed above are really crucial? What will it take to change what's routinely taught to students of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and other health professions?

If you're a faculty member, what are the obstacles you face in changing the curriculum? What successes have you had?

You can post your thoughts by clicking the "Comment" button below this post. David Nash will be checking this site and will respond occasionally. Also, check back here in a week or so for a link to the audio recording of the call.

*Nash, MD, MBA, is a professor of health policy and dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.