Perception of Professionalism and Impacts on Health Human Resource Decision-Making
Date
2023-08-29
Authors
Bilinski, Julia
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Abstract
Health human resources have been strained due to global health emergencies and previous decisions that shape care policies and delivery today. This thesis explores the perception of professional legitimacy of healthcare occupations by health human resources decision-makers, by bringing two British Columbia case studies and perspectives of decision-makes into the academic discourse. The focus of the analysis is the possible effect of the occupational regulatory status of healthcare workers on the perception of professional legitimacy among decision-makers and the potential effect of this perception on Health Human Resource policy. The analysis of two case studies, Bills 29 and 94: Impact on Unregulated Healthcare Workers, and Changes to the Health Professions Act, and interviews with former provincial decision-makers in health human resources, yielded many themes that align with the reviewed literature. This thesis finds that regulatory status might affect the perceived professionalism of healthcare occupations by making decision-makers more likely to listen to a regulated occupation. Recommendations are also presented that include increase of inclusive government consultation and collaboration, use of Gender-based Analysis Plus, integration of a public interest perspective, and bias training for public servants to promote greater representational equity of all health occupations in policy decisions in human health resources.
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Keywords
occupational regulation, health human resource policy, health occupations, health sector workforce, decision-makers, professional legitimacy