Profession In Israel Research Articles

Teacher education in Israel: a fifty-year journey (1974–2024)

ABSTRACT This study explores the evolution of teacher education in Israel from 1974 to 2024, analysing key policy actions, reforms, and initiatives that have shaped the field over the past five decades. During these years, extensive efforts were undertaken at the state level by the Ministry of Education and the Council for Higher Education to elevate the status of the teaching profession by advocating for the professionalisation and professionalism of teaching and teachers. These efforts include the academisation process of all teacher education colleges, the establishment of task forces and standing committees to address challenges, continuous upgrades and adjustments to the initial teacher education curriculum, support mechanisms for newly qualified teachers, ongoing professional development for practicing teachers, including master’s degree programmes, salary adjustments, and the decision to move the colleges of education to the sole auspices of the Council for Higher Education and the Planning and Budgeting Committee. Despite these numerous attempts, the status of teachers has continued to decline, and the profession has struggled with low public perception and prestige, leading to both quantitative and qualitative teacher shortages. The repeated policy shifts and inconsistent implementation strategies have often exacerbated rather than resolved these issues. By providing a comprehensive historical analysis, the study offers insights into the successes and significant shortcomings of past initiatives, aiming to inform future policy-making and strategic planning to enhance the effectiveness and appeal of the teaching profession in Israel.

Effect of enabling and coercive bureaucracies and of perceived organizational support during the pandemic on teachers’ intention to leave the profession

ABSTRACT This study examined the effects of enabling and coercive bureaucracies of the government education authority (GEA), and perceived organizational support during the pandemic on teachers’ intention to leave the profession in Israel. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 267 Israeli public school teachers (80% women). I used a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine the differential effects of GEA and school-level factors on teachers’ intention to leave the profession, and explored a path model in which school-level factors mediated the effects of GEA. The results indicated that the enabling GEA bureaucratic structure and perceived organizational support during the pandemic negatively predicted teachers’ inclination to leave, whereas its coercive bureaucratic structure positively predicted teachers’ inclination to leave. In addition, the analyses showed that perceived organizational support during the pandemic had the greatest influence on intention to leave, and that the extent of this influence cancelled out and overcame the negative effect of the coercive bureaucratic structure of GEA. Furthermore, the path model indicated that perceived organizational support partially mediated the effects of GEA on teachers’ inclination to leave.

The Shaping of Military Nursing in Israel: 1947–1958

Abstract: Unique realities influenced the development of the military nursing profession in Israel. While other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, established military hospitals staffed by separately trained military nurses, conditions in Israel led to the development of interlocking military and civilian healthcare sectors, as the young country responded simultaneously to healthcare needs brought on by war, ongoing attacks on civilians, and massive waves of immigrants, including European Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab countries. Relying on an analysis of documents in multiple archives, contemporaneous newspaper articles and interviews conducted with nurses who served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1956 Sinai Campaign, this paper describes the development of the nursing profession in Israel through 1958, when military nursing was fully established as part of the civilian health sector, a reality that continues to the present.

The Shaping of Military Nursing in Israel: 1947–1958

Abstract: Unique realities influenced the development of the military nursing profession in Israel. While other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, established military hospitals staffed by separately trained military nurses, conditions in Israel led to the development of interlocking military and civilian healthcare sectors, as the young country responded simultaneously to healthcare needs brought on by war, ongoing attacks on civilians, and massive waves of immigrants, including European Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab countries. Relying on an analysis of documents in multiple archives, contemporaneous newspaper articles and interviews conducted with nurses who served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1956 Sinai Campaign, this paper describes the development of the nursing profession in Israel through 1958, when military nursing was fully established as part of the civilian health sector, a reality that continues to the present.

The PA profession in Israel: A half-decade perspective.

Implementation of physician assistants (PAs) in EDs throughout Israel began in May 2016. The profession is now showing some progress but at a relatively slow rate. This article provides an overview of Israel and its healthcare system, and describes the implementation, deployment, education, training, and scope of practice of PAs in Israel, plus recent developments and suggestions for advancing the profession.

Views of Bedouin physicians and nurses on nursing as a profession in Israel: There is more to strive for.

Bedouin society poses challenges to attempts at modernization. Great efforts are being made to expand the number of nurses coming from the Bedouin population. This cross-sectional study among 201 Bedouin nurses and physicians from southern Israel examined differences in their views on nursing as a profession and its relationship to the working environment, using a self-administered questionnaire. Bedouin physicians demonstrated less positive attitudes towards the nursing profession than did nurses, but perceived the nursing work environment more positively. Compared to nurses, physicians ranked both nurses' involvement in policy practice and their clinical contribution to quality care lower, but scored nurses' dependence on physicians' orders higher. They also ranked teamwork and professional nursing development higher, and the autonomy of nurses lower. In conclusion, the perception of nursing as a profession in Bedouin society is linked to cultural fundamentals, gender, and the social status of women. Managers of multicultural teams, especially those including Bedouin-origin healthcare workers, should be aware of the effect of cultural background and should take care to address social disparities and eliminate differences in perspectives.

Lifestyle Medicine Around the World: Lifestyle Medicine in Israel.

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States declared that 7 of 10 deaths per year are caused by chronic diseases; in Israel, the situation is consistent with this assessment. Healthy Israel 2020, an Israeli Ministry of Health initiative, places physicians at the forefront of health promotion and preventive medicine. In 2012, the Israeli Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ISLM) was established under the auspices of the Israel Association for Family Physicians. This decision was taken because we, the authors, wanted to promote change in the primary care services through the recruitment of key leaders for implementation of lifestyle medicine (LM), including improved attitudes, knowledge, motivation, and skills of primary care physicians and health providers. Today, the ISLM is an active member of the Israeli Medical Association, promoting educational activities, physician's health, and well-being initiatives; developing tools for health-promoting clinics; and more. Our future plans are to incorporate LM as an integral part of daily practice in all sectors of the medical profession in Israel. This is challenging, but we see this as the only way to effectively combat the noncommunicable disease epidemic.

Rebecca Bergman: An International Nurse Leader (1919-2015)

Glazer, Ehrenfeld and Flanagan write to introduce a renowned nurse leader in Israel, Rebecca (Becky) Bergman, relatively unknown to nurses in the United States and elsewhere. Becky made a lasting impact on the nursing profession and her story will undoubtedly inspire nurses at any and every stage of their professional career. Her journey as a nurse leader demonstrates leadership, risk-taking and creativity, effective communication, inspiration and a clear vision to change the trajectory of the nursing profession in Israel and around the world. As the first nurse to be awarded the Israel prize (the nation’s highest honor), she broke down international, interdisciplinary and interprofessional barriers by accomplishing several feats including: becoming a World Health Organization (WHO) Consultant, Vice President for the International Council of Nurses (ICN), Chief Nurse for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, establishing Israel’s first academic nursing program and supervising more than 5,000 beds at four hospitals.

The white coat trap: pharmacy as an ethnic-dominated occupation in Israel

ABSTRACTHealth professions are perceived by the Arab minority in Israel as a desired path of education and employment. Arabs in Israel are thus highly represented in these professions, especially pharmacy. This study analyses the unique ethnic and gender composition of pharmacists in Israel and explores their career experiences and perceptions. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed. The findings reflect dual marginality in the pharmacy profession in Israel, that is currently both female and ethnic-dominated. This situation is described in the Arab pharmacists’ stories, that delineate the disparity between their aspirations when starting their careers and their hardships after working for several years as pharmacists. Arabs in Israel face unique difficulties in the labour market. Many choose the health professions, including pharmacy, as a path of mobility. Pharmacy, however, is perceived as a niche (ethnic and female-dominated) profession in Israel. Hence, its practitioners suffer from devaluation in wage and prestige.

Changes and Future Challenges in the Social Work Profession in Israel Based on Stories of Veteran Social Workers

The purpose of this study is to identify: the fluctuations and the changes in the social work profession in Israel reflected in the perceptions of veteran social workers, the origins of the profession in Israel, and the changes in the role of the social worker from its inception in Israel until today. This study used a qualitative research method. Interviews were conducted by students studying for their master of social work degree in the school of social work and social welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in a course on the historical and philosophical origins of the social work. the findings highlight the differences in the veteran social workers’ perceptions of the definition, nature, and role of social work in the country that parallel major developments of the profession in the country from its first days until the present, as reflected in the different periods of growth, expansion and development of the state of Israel.

Applied behavior analysis services in public schools in Israel: examining functional behavior assessment processes

ABSTRACTApplied behavior analysis (ABA) is a fairly young and growing discipline in Israel. Similar to countries in Europe and in the United States, ABA is yet to be formally recognized as a profession in Israel. Infusion of behavior analysis (BA) specialists into the public education system has been occurring gradually over the past two decades, yet there is no literature that documents these processes and the quality of ABA services provided in Israeli schools. This article brings forward one leading example of municipal efforts in a city in central Israel to integrate BA specialists and ABA services into school settings, given the unregulated status of the discipline. Three models of integration are presented. As part of a growing service in this municipal city, this article focuses on examining the FBA processes conducted by the BA specialists. Preliminary data on these processes are presented. Challenges of FBA in Israeli public schools are reviewed and discussed. This article concludes with thoughts and lessons in global context that may be relevant to other countries sharing comparable ABA status and experiencing similar challenges assimilating BA specialists into public organizations.

The development and history of the paramedic profession in Israel

The paramedic profession in Israel was established in 1979 by Dr Nancy Caroline, medical director of the national emergency medical services (EMS) system, Magen David Adom. Since its establishment the profession has developed considerably and paramedics are currently at the frontier of pre-hospital emergency care in Israel. This article looks at the evolution of the paramedic profession in Israel, considering the introduction of mobile intensive care units and the paramedic's ever changing role in the provision of pre-hospital care.

Involvement as inclusion? Shared decision-making in social work practice in Israel: a qualitative account.

Shared decision-making (SDM), a representation of shared knowledge and power between social workers and their clients, is gaining popularity and prevalence in social services around the world. In many senses, SDM reflects values traditionally associated with social work and service provision, such as equality and anti-discrimination. In the complex context of social problem-solving, however, the relationship between SDM, social workers and their clients is multi-faceted and deserves particular attention. The current study examined SDM and the dilemmas it entails through interviews conducted in 2012 with 77 Israeli social workers and policy makers whose responses were analysed according to the guiding principles of descriptive phenomenological content analysis and dialogical commonality. Participants' responses represent notions of hope, change, identity and choice. Findings are discussed in correspondence with current and recent trends in Israeli social services, and the social work profession in Israel.

Physician assistants in Israel.

A perfect storm has brewed that is causing most countries to take a good hard look at their healthcare systems and workforce needs. On the one hand, the patient burden is increasing. Advances in modern medicine are helping people live longer with more complex and chronic diseases. On the other hand, those advances are more difficult to sustain. Medical innovation has caused a significant rise in the cost of healthcare delivery and created a need for a specialized workforce. The philosophy of healthcare is also changing toward team-based medicine. The focus has shifted toward increasing quality, safety, and patient-centered care. With these goals in mind, Israel has been trying to develop its own physician assistant (PA) profession. Israel predicts a significant lack of physicians in the near future. Many of the physicians who emigrated in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union will soon be retiring. Several of the medical specialties are already in distress and need an urgent boost in manpower. Just like the United States did, Israel is encountering various political and legislative obstacles to creating a PA profession. In 2009, a white paper developed by the Israeli Medical Association (the physician professional organization) stated its opposition to establishing a PA profession in Israel, suggesting instead that the country “reexamine its investments into the existing physician professions.”1 Swinging the pendulum back was a 2010 report from the Israel Ministry of Health's Healthcare Workforce Committee, which recommended “an investigation into the possibility of developing a model in Israel... similar to physician assistant, nurse practitioner, anesthesia assistant...” with the expectation that these healthcare providers would “increase the quality of the clinic and the productivity of the physician, the clinic, and the hospital and clear up time for the physician.”2 Finally, the former director general of the Israel Ministry of Health, Roni Gamzu, convened a PA committee that was chaired by Arnon Afek and Gil Fire. Their first meeting took place in August 2012 and their final recommendation was published in July 2013.3 The five specialty areas identified as having the greatest workforce need were anesthesiology, emergency medicine, surgery, internal medicine, and pathology. The committee considered several ways to address the physician gap, including models such as the American PA and NP, or creating a new healthcare profession. The committee determined that most of the clinical needs of these specialties can be met by creating a job in which a skilled professional monitors and manages patients of varying degrees of acuity, provides routine medical care, and acts as a case coordinator/liaison between the various healthcare team members. Specifically for pathology, a laboratory worker or a foreign medical school graduate who didn't pass the Israeli licensing examination can be used. The legislative process for PAs in pathology was recently completed, and the Ministry of Health is preparing the training program for the first group.4 The legislative process for creating PAs in emergency medicine and anesthesiology also is expected to be complete this year. Creating a new profession from scratch is not an easy task in any country. The philosophy that the Israel Ministry of Health has decided to embrace involves using an existing profession and expanding on its current role. This would be an easier and faster legislative route than making something brand new. Therefore, according to the Ministry of Health's recommendations, the new PAs will likely be paramedics who are given additional education and training in order to fit their new role. They will start by only practicing within the specialties outlined, with the hope that the profession can naturally evolve over time. We can find parallels to this quandary in the early days of the American PA program—military medics were called upon to create this profession and garner support for legislation. The hope in Israel is that these special paramedics-turned-PAs will evolve naturally into their new role and create a culture of acceptance and appreciation in the healthcare workforce. Their growth should lead to the creation of legislative advances, professional associations, and expanding academic programs. No one-size-fits-all solution exists to address global healthcare needs. Every country faces its own set of challenges. Many of the growing pains that other countries encounter can be predicted by reading the history of the American PA profession. Born out of the necessity to fill a need and opposed by legislative obstacles, fear, and protectionism, PAs worldwide have proven themselves to be resilient and have grown to become indispensable players on the modern healthcare team.

ED staff knowledge and attitudes towards the paramedic profession in Israel

Objective: To examine the level of knowledge and attitudes of emergency department (ED) personnel towards the paramedic profession in Israel, and to examine opinions of the ED staff regarding integration of paramedics into the ED work staff. Study design: Cross-sectional survey conducted among health care workers. Sample and setting: The research population was physicians and nurses in four level 1 hospitals in Israel. The sample population includes 92 physicians (approximately 61%) and 102 nurses (approximately 34%). Methods: The questionnaire, distributed from November 2011 to February 2012, was composed of five parts: demographics, questions examining interactions with paramedics, knowledge about the paramedics’ work, their assessment of paramedics’ skills, and their attitudes about expanding the paramedic's scope of practice. The questionnaire was sent to 150 personal emails of ED staff members (physicians and nurses). 68 additional questionnaires were filled in EDs. Results: About one fifth of the physicians (21.7%) reported encountering a paramedic on a daily basis, while 87.3% of the nurses reported encountering a paramedic on a daily basis. 72% of the physicians and 77.5% of the nurses knew how to distinguish between a paramedic and a basic or intermediate EMT based on differences in their uniforms. Only 31.5% of the physicians and 43.1% of the nurses knew that the majority of MICUs (Mobile Intensive Care Unit) in Israel have no physician on board. Most physicians and nurses had a high degree of knowledge of the scope of practice of paramedics and a high regard for their clinical skills. Although both physicians and nurses agreed that paramedics can expand their scope of practice to EDs, physicians supported such a measure more than nurses.

Policy lessons from physicians’ strikes

Drawing upon the literature on physicians’ strikes from other OECD countries, the experience with physician strikes in Israel is put into comparative perspective. There are both structural and ideological factors that help to explain why there have been more strikes in Israel relative to other countries. At the same time, the dynamics of the strike and divisions within the medical profession in Israel, may be contributing to policy drift. This is a commentary on http://www.ijhpr.org/content/2/1/33.

Effects of the acceleration in the number of lawyers in Israel

The legal profession in Israel has undergone many significant changes in response to the dramatic increase in the number of lawyers that, although emerging in 1995, still continues. The article reveals and discusses these changes which were first expressed within the profession itself. A separate section deals with the effects on legal practice. Some effects on legal practice are more difficult to ascribe exclusively to the dramatic rise in the number of lawyers; they should be attributed to other factors. Still, the rise in the number of lawyers remains very meaningful. Another section discusses the influence exerted by the increase in the number of lawyers on ethical behavior and disciplinary courts. Such an influence was found to be weak or still inchoate.

Cultural Intervention Strategies Employed by Arab Social Workers in Israel: Identification and Conceptualisation

Based on semi-structured interviews with fifteen Arab social workers employed in municipal social services departments in Arab and mixed localities in Israel, this study sought to identify the ‘cultural intervention strategies’ these social workers used with their Arab clients. Cultural intervention strategies were operationalised as strategies that the interviewees felt were rooted in their culture and had not been taught in the Western-oriented schools of social work where they studied the profession in Israel. The findings identify twelve cultural intervention strategies aimed at enhancing coping, avoiding conflict with and punishment by the family and community, and bridging between the professional language and culture and the language and culture of the clients and the persons relevant to their cases. The discussion emphasises the advantages of the social workers having at their disposal both the professional strategies they learned in their social work education and the cultural strategies they acquired in the course of their work. It also notes the impediments to anti-oppressive and rights-based practice, identifies the complexity in researching cultural strategies and suggests areas for further research.

Effects of Nursing Education on the Image of Nursing as a Profession in Israel

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of nursing students in Israel regarding nursing as a profession and nurses' public image, and whether there is a difference between the perceptions of first-year and more advanced nursing students. A questionnaire based on the work of Tzeng (2006) was administered to 200 first-year nursing students and 200 more advanced students. Most of the students felt the nursing profession needs to undergo an image change, while first-year students perceived nurses as more angelic and romantic than more advanced students. A positive correlation was found between satisfaction with nurses in the field and the image of nursing. In order to reinforce a positive image of nursing as a career, nurse educators should alter negative stereotypes about the profession.

A Fresh Look at How Professions Take Shape: Dual-directed Networking Dynamics and Social Boundaries

Understanding boundary-spanning activities such as interorganizational alliances and professional/organizational integration requires clarity about what boundaries are being spanned and how they were constructed. We approach this goal by drawing on social identity theory and institutional theory to develop a process model, whereby inward- and outward-directed networking activities combine to build the social boundaries marking exclusive membership and proprietary domain. Four stages in the process are demonstrated, using two longitudinal case studies of emerging professions: the Jewish legal profession in Israel and physician executives in the USA. Despite the cases' contextual differences, analysis of networking activities supports propositions based on the model.