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Development Of Standardized Policy And Procedures

Decent Essays

There remains an evident need for the development of standardized policy and procedures to define and organize specific levels of competencies within the health care navigation system and address the prevailing inconsistencies. From the mid-1960s when Chairman Mao proclaimed a new health policy: a Barefoot Doctor lay health care provider program designed to address the shortage of physicians in China 's vast rural populations1-3 to the conjoint efforts in the United States’ “Great Society Mission4” to current State models which vary drastically in regards to legislation and framework, certification, scope of practice, financing, training and education5-7, a unified compendium for standards of care needs to be instilled into the healthcare …show more content…

The “CHW” umbrella term indicates that the current existing workforce titles are not all inclusive, meaning that although many different titles are used to suggest the same term, the actual job functions differ4,9,10.
Being a member of a multidisciplinary team, there are questionable overlapping job descriptors of the navigator profession, when compared to other healthcare providers, with the work already being done by other members of the care team, and whether lay or professional services are best suited to delivering the service4,9,10,24,25. At this time, there is no consensus regarding the most effective scope of practice, continuum of care from a more informal community helper may extend to a paraprofessional role, where the CHW performs duties normally done by licensed practitioners9,15,22,24,26-30. Having such a wide array of job functions is problematic as this does not identify the uniqueness of the position, and without clear understanding the standards of job duties, the position may be prone to overly high expectations, lack of clear focus, and could result in tension between the CHW and other professional members of the health care team or even the community member (patient)9,24-26. Stemming from training variances, challenges with intervention fidelity and issues related to job

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