“I have broken many glass ceilings – so I know it can be done.”
— Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister
WOMEN PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE in healthcare delivery, leadership, and medical professional regulation. Unfortunately, throughout much of the 20th century, social norms limited the important roles of women in the field of medicine. Over the past 40 years, we have seen the rise and increasing predominance of women in health care management, leadership, and medical regulation. In “Telling Her Story: Exploring the Role of Women in US Medical Regulation Through FSMB Publications,” (page 8) Lois Nora and colleagues highlight the evolving role of women in medical regulation The authors analyzed 100 years of photos of publications from the FSMB to illustrate the evolution of women in medical regulation. This may be of important relevance with the increasing oversight that medical boards will have on reproductive health care.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on US health care. One of those impacts was on US first time physicians obtaining board certification. Board certifications for first time physicians fell significantly from 2019 to 2020. In “Sustaining Care in Crisis: COVID-19's Impact on the US Physician Board Certification,” (page 21) Natasha Brown and colleagues study the impact of COVID-19 on the board certification process. The crisis may have created new opportunities for testing modalities, such as a virtual format, along with future innovative assessments.
One of the national regulatory concerns is the potential for increased medical malpractice liability with less restrictive laws and relations concerning Physician Assistant Practice. In “Medical Malpractice Payment Reports of Physician Assistants/Associates Related to State Practice Laws and Regulations,” (page 27) Sondra DePalma and colleagues provide their findings from an observational study examining 10 years of medical malpractice data from the National Practitioner Data Bank. The findings suggest that removing restrictive laws and regulations to PA practices does not increase rates of malpractice awards.
These articles point to the positive impact of changes in medical regulation. This impact includes the. evolution and positive impact of women in medical regulation, meeting the challenges of a pandemic on board certification, and evaluating the impact of less restrictive regulation on PA medical liability.
