23 Career options for glocal care personnel

In this website we are focused on the development and use of a reliable global data base to help with the care of all sick and disabled people.  One of our primary goals would be to decrease the percentage of people who need this data base.

Data would be collected from local care facilities, such as clinics, hospitals, and hospices that are supported by the local public and non-profit organizations.  Thus, this global-local data base can be independent of the agencies and rules of nations or states.

Design and management of the global-local path of knowledge and data should be guided by the principles of:

- least possible waste of depletable global resources

- welfare of life on Earth

The career options of health care personnel - such as nurses, emergency responders, medical clinicians, health/care program designers, care managers etc. who maintain or restore the health of people -- will be designed according to these principles.

In menu 21, we propose global licensing based on an alternative path to learning to state accredited schools. It is the path of learning from websites that are dedicated to qualifying health professionals in global and local perspectives. Website learning would be accompanied by several years of patient care, with remote (on-line) appraisals through networks of community clinics/ hospitals. Additional knowledge that is relevant to a given locality may be certified by local board exams. This alternative career path would provide knowledge and clinical skill to learners based on KB1, 2 and 3.

The following is an outline of a proposed pilot project in ASEAN region as the first step to OEB licensing. (Note: The chief editor of this website, Daryl Beach DMD, passed away on the way to complete this pilot project, so it remains incomplete.)

Goal: Competent health workers/ physicians grounded in global knowledge and abilities through 1) licensing exams and certificates by a group of globally oriented health ministries, and 2) work in a range of community health services appropriate to the license or certificate being granted.

Applicants for  OEB licenses may come from two sources: 1) accredited schools  and 2) accredited clinics which participate in this pilot project. These clinics will form a community clinic network with built-in pd standards and appraisal centers for website learning, patient care and community field work.  These participating clinics would be accredited for OEB licensing by organizations such as ASEAN. 

Applicants for OEB need to pass IQ test and SAT (scholastic assessment test) before being registered to spend given years of clinical experience in work settings that match settings of intended careers.  They learn from a dedicated website, their coworkers and mangers of health care settings.  The scores of a SAT identify the career/careers to be offered to a person scored.  In addition to ability to learn, a comprehensive SAT can identify the setting in which a person best learn - eg. a work setting or a classroom or study with websites.

Registered applicants can be assigned to clinical/field work after a given period of exercises based on pd kb3.00-3.5. They would not be required to attend classroom instruction except for special purposes. 

Phase 1:
Identify a group of public/government clinics in ASEAN nations/region that can each accommodate at least 10 or more operators (dentists and dental nurses).

Persuade the clinic administrators and key health ministry officials to adopt the components of Global Knowledge Framework in the clinics and a linkage with ATC (appraisal and test center). (See menu 11 for GKF)

The clinics would accommodate dedicated web-based learners who plan to be dentists or dental nurses. The only difference between the training of dentists and dental nurses would be the extent of kb1 and public health content learning that will be required as a prerequisite for the dentist-track, which will include passing exams in math and science.

These learners may begin to treat patients within six months after registry, and will continue to learn from dedicated websites and other sources.

At least 300 learners can be accommodated in this project, and dentist-track learners will be reviewed at the appraisal test center for 6 years before being eligible for licensing examinations to enter independent practice. Dental school degrees are elective, but not required.

Phase 2:
Establish the ATC (appraisal test center). The data for appraisal will come from clinic records. The learners will need a manual for precise views of mouth status, and procedure outcomes will be evaluated through photos that are transmitted to ATC. Calibrated examiners at ATC will appraise the photos and clinic records including time management.

Calibrated appraisal at the ATC (appraisal test center) will be made on-line based on photo evidence and digital records sent from participating clinics. Examiners will calibrate the appraisal of data items using a four-point rating of quality: reference, acceptable, acceptable with some qualification, and not acceptable.          

The ATC appraisers will generally confirm what learners will have self-appraised. On-line appraisals are reinforced by on-site tests of clinical skill and judgment in problem-based learning meetings (both web-based and face-to-face meetings in community libraries or other settings).

Appraisals will cover:
- patient and mouth status (include x-rays)
- treatment plans, informed consent
- clinic conditions
- body positions, finger control and associated views of operating points
- outcomes of procedure
- time management