Experts and Regulation

For all the global health coordination, and all the international research collaboration, there is no movement toward scope of practice, labor regulation, prescribing regulation or biotechnological responsibility standardization. 

We should encourage measured progress toward accountability in medicine regulation, and we should do so with countries at the table.  

• What are the medical professions, credentials, approved education and scope of practice in healthcare, per country? What are the community healthcare worker (CHW) roles if allowed, per country? What would countries like to see adjusted or mirrored? 

• Which procedures are allowed for each healthcare profession? What are the rationales, inclusive of supply and demand and access issues? 

• What are the differences in approvals and guidelines for medicine safety, and for who can prescribe what? What is the healthcare political climate in various countries and how does this affect decision making? What analytics are available for expanded scopes? 

• What are the rules for over the counter medication, by country? What is being debated within these countries at this time? 

• What are the timelines, progress indicators and metrics for the basic comparison listing of healthcare professional regulations? One goal should be a detailed list and comparison of professional titles and scope, and countries should be asked if they share this goal. 

• What are the timelines, progress indicators and metrics toward goals of listing and accounting for medicine regulation? One goal should be a detailed list and comparison of what medicines are available over the counter versus prescription versus classified as illegal, and countries should be asked if they share this goal. 

• What is the evidence for current scope of practice for all healthcare professions? Ask the countries how important evidence-based scope of practice regulation is to them, in comparison to access, and what basics could be agreed upon.  

• What is the estimated cost of time, money and other resources when global coordination is hindered by inconsistent medicine and labor rules? Ask these countries for first hand accounts of global coordination and  prescription as well as scope of practice barriers or lack of barriers.  

• What are the audit and validation tools for healthcare education, by credential? Ask the countries. 

• What is the planned data aggregation and research to better shape professional regulation in healthcare?  Ask the healthcare facility leadership, labor regulation leadership and professional leadership. 

• What are the differences in health outcomes and in patient safety outcomes with various over the counter rules? Ask the countries how important these outcomes are to decisions, and ask them what initial data aggregation steps can be taken to achieve outcome evaluations. 

• What is the strategic plan for health and safety outcome evaluations, by country, by prescribing rules? Ask these countries if they’d like to be part of a cool, new global strategic plan. 

For global health to boost credibility, some understanding and accounting for medicine’s professional allowance is necessary. The current lack of listing or comparison of professional scope of practice, and of prescribing regulation, suggests that the industry is even more varied than anticipated. Global health must account for international differences in medical scope of practice, and should do so with quality to the process.