title: A radical new treatment for the sick health workforce.
abstract: The health workforce crisis needs radical treatment; simply educating more health workers will be insufficient, and role substitution among existing health workers is untenable. We propose a new class of health worker who would take on single disease or single procedure responsibilities, working mostly to protocols; and be embedded within current structures. We also propose modular health education which has fewer entry points into the health system, allows transfer between different disciplines, and is based on modules that can be accumulated to allow progress through the system to gain more clinical responsibility.
authors.affiliation: Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. cdelmar@bond.edu.au
authors.forename: Christopher B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Del Mar
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dwyer
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000379:methods; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000379:methods*; D006280:Health Workforce / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000600:supply & distribution; D024382:Professional Role