The preceding article by David Meltzer examining the emerging field of "hospitalists" has a substantial amount of relevance for those of us who are trying to examine the public health workforce. The key element of Meltzer's thesis is that many disciplines, and their methods, had utility as he and his colleagues went about the process of creating and evaluating the development of a new physician "specialty"-the hospital-ist. He points out that using scientific methods drawn from sociology, psychology, and economics can benefit those who are looking at the medical care workforce and has utility, he believes, in public health workforce studies. Given the multidisciplinary nature of public health, it is hard to differ with that conclusion. There is no doubt that we need to bring as many disciplines and their methods to examining the public health workforce as is the case with studies of the medical care workforce.
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