For the past 15 years, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has been carrying forward its responsibility to foster cooperation among the 13 western states for the improvement of higher education. The commission sponsors a wide range of cooperative programs, including those to strengthen nursing, mental health, university management information systems, social work, and medical education. At present, several of WICHE's programs are designing new approaches to health manpower production. One such program, still in the planning stage, would provide facilities for the education of physicians and related personnel in the western intermountain region. The concept envisions the use of multiple university campuses for basic science instruction and widely separated community hospitals for clinical instruction. This effort would be supplemented by the use of self-instructional devices and communications networks.
WICHE and Medical Education
In its early years, WICHE conducted studies of physician manpower in the West. These studies