While health services personnel in the United States receive the best technical training available, they are rarely exposed to a holistic health science curriculum which would enable them to develop the interpersonal competence needed in the delivery of health services. Indeed, the primary task of health services personnel is teaching patients to assume proper therapeutic behaviors. This requires understanding a patient's behavior patterns, the psychology of motivation, the patient's personal and cultural background, and the importance of including the patient in his/her diagnosis and treatment. In addition, health care personnel must learn the skills required of any organization member and be aware of the need to economize in a non-profit hospital setting, racial caste systems within job classifications, burn-out and other job-related problems, the inadvisability of socializing on the job, and management policies. Health personnel are also called upon to interact with people who are neither patients nor co-workers, for example, with patients' friends and family. They often need to teach families to assist with patient care and to deal with the sensitive topic of mortality. Clearly these interpersonal competencies cannot all be addressed within the short timeframe of formal study, but colleges have an obligation to incorporate general education into the curriculum to instill a spirit of critical observation and to motivate independent investigation. (JP)