Main description:

There are significant variations in how healthcare systems and health professionals are regulated globally. One feature that they increasingly have in common is an emphasis on the value of including members of the public in quality assurance processes. While many argue that this will help better serve the public interest, others question how far the changing regulatory reform agenda is still dominated by medical interests.
Bringing together leading academics worldwide, this collection compares and critically examines the ways in which different countries are regulating healthcare in general, and health professions in particular, in the interest of users and the wider public. It is the first book in the Sociology of Health Professions series.

Contents:

Foreword ~ Richard B. Saltman
Editors' overview ~ Mike Saks and Mike Dent
Introduction: professional health regulation in the public interest ~ John Martyn Chamberlain
Health care governance, user involvement and medical regulation in Europe ~ Mike Dent
The informalisation of professional-patient interactions and the consequences for regulation in the United Kingdom ~ Patrick Brown and Ruben Flores
The regulation of health care in Scandinavia: professionals, the public interest and trust ~ Karsten Vrangbaek
Medical regulation for the public interest in the United Kingdom ~ William Roche
Regulating the regulators: the rise of the United Kingdom Professional Standards Authority ~ Judith Allsop and Kathryn Jones
Regulation and Russian medicine: whither medical professionalisation? ~ Mike Saks
Patterns of medical oversight and regulation in Canada ~ Humayun Ahmed, Adalsteinn Brown and Mike Saks
Let the consumer beware: maintenance of licensure and certification in the United States ~ Ruth Horowitz
Governing complementary and alternative medicine in Brazil and Portugal: implications for CAM professionals and the public ~ Joana Almeida, Pamela Siegel and Nelson Barros
Birth of the hydra-headed monster: a unique antipodean model of health workforce governance ~ Fiona Pacey and Stephanie Short
Health complaints entities in Australia and New Zealand: serving the public interest? ~ Jennifer Morris, Jennifer Moore and Marie Bismark
Trust and the regulation of health systems: insights from India ~ Michael Calnan and Sumit Kane