The Health Professions' Continuum Cleft

The continuum of health professions is interrupted by a natural and unavoidable gap that separates conventional from complementary and alternative health care and that may aptly be called the continuum cleft. The cleft occurs as a consequence of the development of professional silos during the professionalization process and of the emergence of professional cysts related to the efforts of some professions to insulate their patients from the perceived risks imposed by other professions. The continuum cleft can cause costly and potentially hazardous compromises to the continuity of care for >73 million Americans annually. Interprofessional educational experiences derived from collaboration in the health sciences among Oregon's uniquely diverse educational institutions may provide some guidelines for mending the continuum cleft.