After professional school, healthcare professionals typically engage in some kind of recurring formal training throughout their career. This training is conducted through a number of organizations, and it raises certain questions about the optimal path taken to produce quality healthcare people. How much responsibility for preparing health care professionals to function effectively belongs to educational programs outside of schools as compared to hiring organizations? How might programs and organizations reduce the educational gaps between programs and employers? To answer these questions, initiatives in the discipline of pharmacy are used as a guide.

Accordingly, not every organization is equipped to handle every phase of training. What the pharmacy discipline has done is delineate the areas where each organization is responsible (Argus et. al., 2006). For example, the academic industry is responsible for recruiting capable people to become pharmacists (Argus et. al., 2006). Professional schools are responsible for researching and teaching the science (Argus et. al., 2006). Professional organizations are responsible for maintaining top-notch people in top-notch practice (Argus et. al., 2006). So, the question is really not how much each is responsible but for what each is responsible.

As overlap becomes salient, it becomes appearant that some gaps in training may occur for some people. To reduce such gaps in knowledge, it is not only the responsibility of the student, but also that of the profession. Again, the discipline of pharmacy is used as an example. It has formed committees that oversee the progression of each phase of learning (Argus et. al., 2006). Furthermore, it has developed umbrella organizations that oversee these committees to ensure all of the necessary knowledge is transmitted to the professional (Argus et. al., 2006).