The global health workforce faces a number of challenges requiring action at national and international level. In addition to the low density of health workers in various occupations and sub-optimal distribution resulting in reduced access to care, the quality and performance of the existing and future health workforce is a key determinant for the achievement of Universal Health Coverage and of SDG3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).
Health professional regulatory processes are central to ensuring health workforce quality and sustainability. These processes include establishment of education standards, quality assurance of education programmes, establishment of codes of conduct, identification of scopes of practice, systems for licensure, maintenance of registers of those fit to practice, and systems to ensure continuing professional development and appropriate disciplinary measures. Health professional regulatory processes also have been used to give effect to broader policies related to dual practice and compulsory service programmes. Health professional regulatory systems and their capacity are, however, increasingly under stress across countries. The centrality of health professional regulatory systems to address priority health systems concerns, as well as associated capacity constraints, has been made further prominent by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are important variations in country experiences in health professional regulation. It is important to understand what works (and does not work) in differing contexts, and how best to maintain and improve the quality of health workforce education and practice.
This thematic series in Human Resources for Health aims to:
- Identify empirical evidence on the impact of accreditation of education institutions on improving the quality of health worker education.
- Identify empirical evidence on impact of health professional regulation on patient safety, quality, and broader health system objectives.
- Identify innovations in the professional regulation of health workers and underlying drivers for reform.
- Explore the link between accreditation of education institutions and the broader regulation of professional practice.
- Provide an opportunity to present low- and middle-income country processes and practices in accreditation and health professional regulation that are currently under-represented in the literature.
- Fill the gap in regulatory and accreditation data about health occupations such as accelerated medically trained clinicians, community health workers, dental assistants, optometric technicians, and other health occupation under-represented in the literature.
In this thematic series, we are particularly interested to receive manuscripts which contribute to the evidence base on the implementation, management and impact of health worker education and practice regulation. Manuscripts should be nationally or internationally policy relevant, with cross country papers encouraged. Submissions should address:
- Diversity of national, multi-national, and sub-national approaches to accreditation and regulation
- Facilitators and barriers to effective accreditation and regulation
- Societal impact of accreditation and regulation
- Implementation challenges for accreditation and regulation-related laws and policies
- Data sharing on implementation and impact of accreditation and regulation
Edited by William Burdick and Ibadat Dhillon.
The Editors express no competing interests and the views expressed in the articles are the sole responsibility of the authors. Payment for publication of the series was made by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER).
This series is closed to new submissions. During submission authors should select the option to submit to a thematic series and choose this series from the list.
Please submit manuscripts for preliminary screening to drwburdick@gmail.com. The Article Processing Charge will be sponsored by FAIMER for approved submissions. Details of how to obtain this funding will be provided in the reply from drwburdick@gmail.com.
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