EuroPA-C represented at the WHO Global Symposium on Health Workforce Accreditation and Regulation
David E. Lizotte, Jr. MPAS, PA-C, FAPACVS
Executive Director, APACVS
From December 10-12, 2019, I had the privilege to represent EuroPA-C at the Global Symposium on Health Workforce Accreditation and Regulation in the historic city of Istanbul, Turkey. In attendance were 258 healthcare providers, nurses, regulators, administrators, professional association leaders and other healthcare experts from 58 countries who all came together to share ideas and strategize on the fundamental question of how to ensure universal access to care for all citizens of the planet by the year 2030. This discussion stems from a mandate of the World Health Organization from their Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030. Though presentations and small group work, the issues and challenges of ensuring universal access to care were reviewed, debated and harmonized. Fundamental to these discussions are a review of who currently provides care, how they are trained, certificated and their training programs are accredited. There is an interesting dichotomy of tremendous diversity yet commonality amongst how the countries of the world regulate healthcare workers from training to practice. From these discussion over the three days, it is clear to me that PAs or their equivalents have a large role to play in filling gaps in care around the world as well as ensuring the consistent delivery of quality care to all patients. Further, the development of broader geographical standards that emphasize a core approach yet has flexibility for regional individuality provides the greatest hope of achieving these ambitious yet essential goals for all humanity. Organizations like EuroPA-C will lead the way in achieving this geographical consensus, will work tirelessly to develop consensus on core standards for accreditation and certification of PAs or their equivalents in Europe, so that the availability of high quality healthcare is truly universal.
