National Professional Bodies Research Articles

Spanish nurses' credentialing in the 20th century

Nurses credentialing as healthcare professionals commenced in Western Europe and in the USA by the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, boosted by the protestant reform movement. In Spain, it started in 1915, during the kingdom of Alfonso XIII (1902-1931). This historical period was marked by great political instability and big flaws in the healthcare delivery system. To describe the regulatory pathway that gave rise to the nursing profession in Spain, through official credentialing and regulation during the first third of the 20th century. Documental, historical and regulatory documental research describing and analysing the national legislative sources used to regulate the professional development, as well as the education, training and competencies of the nursing practice in Spain, as compared with the developments in the European and American context. Professional development of the nursing profession in Western Europe and in the USA is consolidated during the 20th century as resulting in educational and training enhancement and the establishment of national and international professional bodies. In Spain, the regulatory and legal recognition of the nursing profession come into being in 1915 in response to a request from a female religious congregation.

Real life impact of the global libraries: Biblionet Romania Program

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from the pilot stage evaluation of the Global Libraries – Biblionet Romania project. The project involves introducing public access ICT via public libraries in Romania and the pilot evaluation was designed to ensure the adoption of an appropriate impact planning and assessment program for the main project.Design/methodology/approachSince the start of the Global Libraries – Biblionet Romania project, planning and managing for results have been the guiding philosophy. The team was concerned to find the right balance between what is too much for librarians in terms of data collection, and what precisely to promote as useful metrics with which the librarians are comfortable and which do not create too much extra work. A step‐by‐step approach has been used to involve librarians in decisions, facilitate consensus, and double‐check agreements, understandings and results. This involved phases of engagement with users in the pilot project areas, librarians, and the national professional body.FindingsThe pilot has revealed some of the key characteristics of library patrons as public access ICT users, some of the major factors in implementing public access computing through libraries and important elements of the capacity for change in the national professional body, all of which will inform the design and planning of the main project.Research limitations/implicationsLibrarians in the 12 pilot sites had different levels of expertise and interest in data collection and different levels of understanding of the relationship between impact assessment and service development. The paper expresses how one can quantify the benefits of using computer and internet in public libraries. Handled skilfully, this approach can be a strong advocacy tool to communicating with public authorities and other local or national stakeholders. Although this was a pilot project, it was substantial in scale and provides useful insights into all facets of a major implementation program as well as important assessment data on Romanian public libraries.Originality/valueThe pilot project has already provided original evidence of the significance and value of public libraries in Romania. (The main project that will be designed on the basis of this evidence will in due course add a major and continuing further dimension to this process of assessment.)

The Managerial Law Firm and the Globalization of Legal Ethics

The processes of economic integration induced by globalization have brought about a certain type of legal practice that challenges the core values of legal ethics. Law firms seeking to represent the interests of internationally active corporate clients must embrace and systematically apply concepts of strategic management and planning and install corporate business structures to sustain competition for lucrative clients. These measures bear a high conflict potential with the core values of legal ethics. However, we observe in parallel a global consolidation of these core values through an enhanced cooperation of national professional bodies, the use of international codes, and comparative legal ethics teaching and research. Furthermore, state regulation of the legal profession is concerned with preserving the core values of legal ethics to conserve the lawyer’s role in upholding the rule of law. This article defends that legal ethics is adapting to the pressures exerted by “managerial” approaches to legal practice without this altering core values that underlie legal ethics.

Getting started with research

AbstractDo you have an enquiring mind and an enthusiasm or thirst for knowledge? Do you want to get involved in radiotherapy research or develop your research expertise? Research should underpin the clinical and educational activities undertaken by Radiation Therapists. For many, research can seem a daunting process that is beyond their expertise or capabilities. All health care practitioners can use research evidence and some may want to undertake their own research but may feel unsure where to start.This article is aimed at novice researchers (or those with limited research experience) and those wanting to develop their research potential. The discussion should help practitioners identify the necessary skills required to undertake research, where to go for help, the research process (including where research ideas come from), and what to consider when putting together a project team or applying for research funding.The discussion concludes on the importance of research training and support (or mentoring) for novice researchers or those at the start of their research careers. The national professional body for therapists can play an important role in helping researchers to network with likeminded individuals. Some professional bodies (such as the College of radiographers in the UK) may also provide small research grants to help build research activity, and as such can be a useful starting point when considering research funding.

Museums and Museum Studies in New Zealand: A Survey of Historical Developments

AbstractWhat relationship has the university subject of museum studies had with the museum sector? It is often claimed that there is an oversupply of graduates in museum studies ill‐equipped to work in museums, an issue that reveals tensions between understandings of academic study and practical experience. This article addresses these tensions between museums and museum studies through a survey of the historical development of museums and the closely related development of training, professional development and university degrees. The generalist role of the museum worker in the embryonic museums of colonial New Zealand did not require formal academic training. The 1930s witnessed a turning point with grants for professional development from the Carnegie Corporation. The Second World War disrupted the museum sector but from the 1950s museums experienced rapid growth in type and number, developments requiring larger numbers of specialised staff. At the same time the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the museum branch of UNESCO were formed, along with a national professional body The Art gallery and Museums Association of New Zealand (AGMANZ), which provided an international and local voice and focus for the museum sector. Finally, in the 1960s, only 100 years after the first museum was opened, we see the birth of museum‐centred training programmes first administered by the museum sector and in the late 1980s by the university. The article concludes that the increasingly complex and specialised museum profession and the increasingly sophisticated academic analysis of museums emerged at the same time and are inevitably and necessarily intertwined.

The Clerical Profession in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1680-1840. By W. M. JACOB

In the ‘long’ eighteenth century, Jacob argues, the clergy of the Church of England were the only national professional body in anything like the modern sense of the term, with established procedures for the training, admission, supervision, and discipline of its members. Their economic and social status rose during the eighteenth century, though most of them remained closely integrated with the communities they served and their ministry was accepted and welcomed by the majority. Even tithes did not become a really divisive issue until the agricultural crises of the years after 1815. Pluralism did not seriously impede worship or pastoral care, and clergy played a positive role in the provision of education and the relief of poverty. Study, catechizing, and preaching were taken seriously. There is no evidence for a Church riven by party divisions before the emergence of Tractarianism, and much for a clergy united by a common outlook and goals. No doubt this positive evaluation will fail to impress those wedded to the more traditional view of the negligence of the eighteenth-century clergy which originated with contemporary dissenters and satirists and was perpetuated by nineteenth-century reformers; but for specialist as well as general readers Jacob has compiled a substantial and interesting body of evidence from a wide range of primary and secondary sources.

Genetics Education for Health Professionals: Strategies and Outcomes from a National Initiative in the United Kingdom

The National Health Service (NHS) National Genetics Education and Development Centre was established by the Department of Health in 2004 to help drive and co-ordinate genetics education for health professionals working outside specialist genetic services. This paper reviews the experiences and lessons learned to date. At the outset, it was clear that understanding the learning ethos, preferred delivery methods and attitudes towards genetics of different NHS healthcare groups was vital. We collected evidence by undertaking needs assessments with educators, practitioners and patients. We have determined the genetics knowledge, skills and attitudes which they said were needed and translated these into learning outcomes and workforce competences in a continuum of education. Beginning with core concepts introduced (and examined) pre-registration, the continuum continues with development of concepts post-registration as appropriate for role, leading to practical application and assessment of competences in the workplace. These are supported by a portfolio of resources which draw heavily on patient based scenarios to demonstrate to staff that genetics is relevant to their work, and to convince educators and policy makers that genetic education is likely to result in real clinical benefit. A long term educational policy, inclusive of learners, educationalists and their institutions must be evidence based, flexible and responsive to changes in workforce structure, provision of clinical services and conceptual and financial commitments to education. The engagement of national policy, regulatory and professional bodies is vital (www.geneticseducation.nhs.uk).

Interview with Dr Abdel Hamid Afana

AbstractDr Abdel Hamid Afana, MA, PhD, is the President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Director of the Training and Research Department at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, a non-governmental organization established in 1990 which adopts a community-based approach to tackle mental health problems, and President of the Board of Directors of the Jesoor Organization that deals with community rehabilitation for trauma and human rights abuse victims. He is a psychotherapist, a graduate of the University of Oslo in Norway, and has extensive experience in torture rehabilitation. Dr Afana is one of the scholars who believe that mental health and human rights are inseparable and that mental health professionals have a role in community development and building bridges for peace through health. He is the founder and former head of the international board of a postgraduate diploma in Community Mental Health and Human Rights and a member of national, regional and international organizations and professional bodies in fields related to health and human rights. Through transcultural psychiatry at McGill University, Dr Afana is analyzing the social representation, meaning of and means of coping with traumatic experiences in protracted conflicts.

The smell of false hope

Men fail to match women in many important ways: we cannot multitask and we are not multi-orgasmic, for example. And some men may have realized that their sense of smell is far inferior to the olfactory power of their female partner. Up to now I have taken this failing as a personal one peculiar to my genetic predisposition and nasal structure, but it transpires that studies document this sexual imbalance in olfaction—and there is even a reason for it. Mahmood Bhutta, in his review of sex and the nose, presents evidence that humans use odour to influence mate selection (JRSM 2007;100:268-274). Choice of mate, it seems, is much more important for women than it is for men since they make a much larger parental investment—and the more different the odour the bigger the attraction. For men in relationships this paper helps us understand one of the fundamental mysteries of the universe: why the hell did our partners choose us in the first place? For men failing to woo the object of their desires, the solution is simple: try somebody else or find yourself a new deodorant. I wonder what the MTAS mandarins smell like to junior doctors? Judging from the myths put forward over the past few months—including the fishy tale that ‘no doctors will be unemployed in August’—they would not make desirable mates. Jonathan Rohrer, Jonathan Kennedy and William Knight seek to debunk the MTAS myths (JRSM 2007;100:252-253). One of the myths, of course, is that MTAS was about improving patient care. How was this to be accomplished when fewer junior doctors will be receiving less training than in the past? Now that MTAS has been ditched, I have to ask: what will take its place? I write these revelations from Vienna, a city of high culture and wonderful smells—or so I am told. It was also once the home of Professor Joseph von Sonnenfels, one of the first Viennese journalists and editor of the liberal periodical The Unprejudiced Man. In 1776, Sonnenfels persuaded the Empress of Austria and her son and heir to abolish all forms of torture. Over the next decade, serfdom and the death penalty were also abolished in enlightened Austria. In the time of torture, Austria had developed a role for physicians as ‘torture doctors’ or Folter Arzt. The job of the Folter Arzt was not to inflict torture but to protect the prisoner at interrogations, as explained by Hugh Baron in this issue (JRSM 2007;100:262-264). Professor Ferdinand Edlen von Leber was a Folter Arzt who campaigned against torture and persuaded the Viennese Faculty of Medicine to agree that ‘torture practiced in this country with thumb-screw, press and rack should be practiced without danger to life.’ Baron also draws an unfavourable comparison between the Viennese doctors of the 18th century and our modern day Folter Arzt, who comply with the torturers of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib—and most other parts of the world, if you accept Amnesty International's claims (JRSM 2007;100:265-266). In particular, he perceives a failure of national professional bodies to challenge the abuse of human rights. Over two hundred years ago, Professor Leber had observed something modern torturers are unwilling to understand: ‘Even the innocent, overcome by the intensity of pain, acknowledge crimes that they had never committed; whereas a real criminal, endowed with strong, almost unfeeling nerves, could defy the most painful torture and falsely maintain his innocence.’ Dawn Starin turns our attention to The Gambia (‘a small country in crisis’), where the president, elaborately named His Excellency Colonel (retired) Doctor (honorary degree) El Hajj Yahya Jammeh, claims that he can cure AIDS within thirty days with a secret herbal formula and verses recited from the Koran (JRSM 2007;100:294-296). In an evocative piece, she writes: ‘Every Thursday young and old, female and male, wait for the president's touch, the president's prayers, the president's secret formula to cure them from AIDS. Giving up on their anti-retroviral medicines and subjecting themselves to the president's cure, those with HIV or AIDS are probably being given false hope.’ But whether it is the allure of a mate, jobs for junior doctors, the end of torture, or the cure for AIDS, the smell of false hope always surrounds the human species.

The Availability of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Within Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS): A National Survey

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has recommended cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for a number of common child and adolescent mental health disorders. The aim of this study was to clarify the practice of CBT within specialist child and adolescent mental health services in the United Kingdom. A survey was distributed to specialist child mental health workers through national organizations and professional bodies. Approximately 10% of specialist CAMHS professionals replied (n = 540). One in five reported CBT to be their dominant therapeutic approach, whilst 40% rarely used CBT. Specialist post-qualification training had been undertaken by 21.0% of respondents, with over two-thirds identifying training needs in the core skills of CBT. This survey suggests that the capacity of specialist CAMHS to meet the requirements of NICE in terms of the availability of CBT skills is doubtful. There is a need to develop CBT training and supervision infra-structures.

The Reconstitution of Law in Local Settings: Agency Discretion, Ambiguity, and a Surplus of Law in the Policing of Hate Crime

An important yet poorly understood function of law enforcement organizations is the role they play in distilling and transmitting the meaning of legal rules to frontline law enforcement officers and their local communities. In this study, we examine how police and sheriff's agencies in California collectively make sense of state hate crime laws. To do so, we gathered formal policy documents called “hate crime general orders” from all 397 police and sheriff's departments in the state and conducted interviews with law enforcement officials to determine the aggregate patterns of local agencies' responses to higher law. We also construct a “genealogy of law” to locate the sources of the definitions of hate crime used in agency policies. Despite a common set of state criminal laws, we find significant variation in how hate crime is defined in these documents, which we attribute to the discretion local law enforcement agencies possess, the ambiguity of law, and the surplus of legal definitions of hate crime available in the larger environment to which law enforcement must respond. Some law enforcement agencies take their cue from other agencies, some follow statewide guidelines, and others are oriented toward gaining legitimacy from national professional bodies or groups within their own community. The social mechanisms that produce the observed clustering patterns in terms of approach to hate crime law are mimetic (copying another department), normative (driven by professional standards about training and community social movement pressure), and actuarial (affected by the demands of the crime data collection system). Together these findings paint a picture of policing organizations as mediators between law-on-the-books and law-in-action that are embedded in interorganizational networks with other departments, state and federal agencies, professional bodies, national social movement organizations, and local community groups. The implications of an interorganizational field perspective on law enforcement and implementation are discussed in relation to existing sociolegal research on policing, regulation, and recent neo-institutional scholarship on law.

Professional doctoral training in psychology: International comparison and commentary

The level of training required for the practice of professional psychology varies across countries, and usually evolves from a combination of input from local and national regulatory bodies, legislative requirements, academic institutions and relevant professional bodies. Here we explore the North American and Australian historical developments and future directions in levels of training required and aspired to for professional psychologists, along with a brief comparison to training for psychologists in Central and South America, Europe and Asia. The recent proliferation of professional doctorate degrees in Australian universities has added another layer to the suite of available qualifications for professional psychologists and to some degree reflects international trends in the profession. The important role of professional organisations in establishing the educational requirements for entry into professional practice is highlighted.

The output display standard: has it missed its target?

Diagnostic ultrasound is the safest medical imaging modality for the exposed patient and this has contributed to it being established as the method of choice for fetal examinations. The clinical benefits of obstetric ultrasound are generally recognized and, for about three decades, one or more ultrasound examinations during pregnancy have been offered to millions of pregnant women worldwide. A number of follow-up studies of children exposed to ultrasound in utero provided reassuring evidence that prenatal ultrasound examination does not cause adverse effects with regard to malformations, childhood malignancy, neurological abnormalities or abnormal growth1. The reported weak association between prenatal ultrasound exposure and non-right-handedness2 needs further evaluation but does not refute the fact that there is at present no evidence which would contradict the safe use of ultrasound in pregnancy. This was supported by a recently published prospective study demonstrating that multiple ultrasound examinations during pregnancy did not have any adverse effect on the postnatal growth, behavior and neurological development of children followed up to the age of 8 years3. However, highenergy ultrasound can induce biophysical effects when passing through tissue, for example, thermal effects and mechanical stress, causing cavitation. Consequently, some authorities, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA, set upper limits for the output from ultrasound equipment: the estimated in-situ intensity must not exceed 720 mW/cm2. In Europe, no such general regulation of the output levels is given. It is the user’s responsibility to control the output energy and to use the equipment in a safe manner. In order to facilitate ultrasound safety assessment, in the early 1990s, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and National Electrical Manufacturers Association introduced the ‘output display standard’ (ODS) using biophysical indicators for real-time display of safety information during scanning. The FDA adopted the ODS and issued regulations demanding the ODS information to be provided by the manufacturers. The definitions of these biophysical indicators and the requirements for their display are now included in an International Standard4. The ODS indicators comprise two types of biophysical index: the thermal index (TI) and mechanical index (MI)5. The indices are calculated for the given machine settings on the basis of tissue models and their acoustic properties. The TI is an estimate of the tissue temperature rise in degrees centigrade (◦C), which might be possible under ‘reasonable worst-case conditions’. For particular examination situations, three types of TI have been defined: soft tissue (TIS) and bone tissue (TIB) thermal index, and TI for cranial examinations (TIC). The MI attempts to indicate the probability of non-thermal effects occurring within the tissue. According to the ODS, for equipment that can at certain machine settings produce output energy giving TI or MI ≥ 1.0, the indices should be displayed if they exceed 0.4. The MI and TI are only rough estimates of possible effects and should not be understood as giving more than guidance to the operator. Nevertheless, the ODS is considered at present to be the best way of providing safety information. Several national and international professional bodies – societies of medical ultrasound – issue regularly statements with recommendations for the safe use of diagnostic ultrasound. The safety statements can be found in the official publications6 and on the websites

Motivating Student Personal Development Planning by Making Links with Employability

AbstractThe project described here is designed to enhance the use of personal development planning (PDP) amongst all Higher Education (HE) students through the use of current performance and review documentation from a range of companies and organisations. The overall aim is to help students from any and every discipline to make a connection between their own required portfolio planning and the performance development plans that are used in the workplace. The database of materials from organisations is growing. The objective is to have resources from a cross-section of charity and voluntary organisations, large to small companies, national and local government and professional bodies. The aim is to have a range of personal planning resources that will appeal to as broad a range of students as possible.

Science policy for risk governance.

Rather than regarding risk governance as a burden, science should embrace it as an opportunity to build public trust

Lay Involvement in Professional Regulation: A Study of Public Appointment‐holders in the Health Field

Lay Involvement in Professional Regulation: A Study of Public Appointment‐holders in the Health Field

The Migration of Professionals: Theories and Typologies

In an historical context, highly skilled migration typically involved the forced movement of professionals as a result of political conflicts, followed by the emergence of the “brain drain” in the 1960s.In the current situation, highly skilled migration represents an increasingly large component of global migration streams. The current state of theory in relation to highly skilled migration is far from adequate in terms of explaining what is occurring at the high skill end of the migration spectrum.Continuing growth of temporary skilled migration is heralding changes in the operation of professions. Formal procedures for recognizing the skills of permanent immigrant professionals are breaking down as “fast‐track” processes for assessing the skills of temporary professional migrants are put in place. The increasing globalization of firms and the internationalization of higher education are encouraging professions to internationalize.In this article, four professions are cited as case studies to show that professional inclusion/exclusion is no longer defined by national professional bodies alone. The operation of professions has become a transnational matter although the extent of internationalization varies with professions.Typologies for analysing professional migration flows are discussed and a sixth means of categorization, by profession or industry, is introduced to allow for the nature of interactions between the market, the state and the profession/industry. The question whether states should continue to be concerned about self‐sufficiency in national professional labour markets in an increasingly globalized environment is also addressed.

Development of a national code of practice for structural masonry – the Ghanaian approach

The problems and constraints faced by most developing countries, particularly Ghana, in developing codes of practice for structural masonry are highlighted. The steps that must be undertaken through the coordinated efforts of the National Standards Boards, Research Institutions, Universities and Professional Bodies in the con-struction industry to formulate technical specifications and standards aimed eventually at the development of a national code of practice for structural masonry are also outlined. Education and training of brick and block lay-ers, and local manufacturers of masonry units have been identified as key measures needed to ensure high quali-ty masonry products in Ghana. A proposed format of draft code of practice is also presented. (Journal of Applied Science and Technology: 2001 6(1-2): 46-50)

Getting new evidence into medicine

The rate of transfer of the knowledge gained from health and medical research into evidence-based practice is determined by many factors. Preconditions for the uptake of new evidence are the availability of good evidence, ready access to the evidence, a supportive organisational environment, and effective mechanisms for promoting knowledge uptake. Evidence-based medicine is being promoted in Australia by a body of enthusiastic clinicians, public health practitioners and consumer advocates, supported by initiatives from national, State and local healthcare services and professional bodies. The short to medium term future of evidence-based medicine in Australia is likely to be shaped by three major factors: a reduction in cost and technical barriers which limit access to computerised databases; a trend towards shared decision-making between clinicians and patients; and increased demand for information to fill the gaps in research-based evidence on specific problems.

The development of a national oncology pharmacy audit database in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Audit has become an important facet of service and patient management over the last 5 to 10 years. The importance of Audit has received particular emphasis in the UK through the endorsement of both its concepts and its practice from the government via the National Health Service Executive and professional bodies such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the General Medical Council. Within specialities, such as pharmacy services to oncology departments, the relative scale of operation makes self or even local peer-reviewed audit inappro priate. There needs to be a more broad based and less isolated comparison of standards, ideally with exter nal peer review. Furthermore because oncology phar macy tends to be run from small, very busy units the audit process would require additional time, re sources, or data collection. An appropriate audit process should, therefore, be based around existing work practices and not require additional resources. Bearing in mind these principles, a collaboration between a group of oncology pharmacists and a specialized health care firm was developed and the JANUS project and the NOPAD (National Oncology Pharmacy Database) established. The scheme relies on computer extraction of core data from existing working records. While being completely anonymous of patients and reporting centre. Data are then pro cessed into the NOPAD database which can be used by a reporting centre to compare their internal audit data to a national core data set, and for academic research into pharmacy practices in oncology phar macy. Furthermore information from the database has to be sold in a "washed out" form to oncology firms to pay for the running costs of the service. Although not universally subscribed to throughout the UK, there has been around an 80% uptake of the concept and further project looking to extend the database to cover support therapies, and/or other therapeutic areas as well as linking this drug usage picture to the UKs cancer registries disease distri bution picture. Some of the background to this unique UK initiative are presented, and the mechanism by whic the project works for UK centres is described.