CGFNS International announced today it has established a Global Health Workforce Development Institute. The new think tank will conduct original research and leverage knowledge developed by CGFNS over its half-century of providing credentialing services — as well as its vast experience with workforce mobility issues — to advance scientific knowledge about the evolution of health workforce roles and the development of credentialing and certification programs and policies.
A long-term objective of the Institute will be to create rigorous global certification programs that streamline the assessment and recognition of practice competency. These will empower nurses and other health professionals around the world to achieve “work-readiness” regardless of where they choose to apply their knowledge and skills, while enabling them to showcase their competencies to employers, regulators, and educators worldwide.
“Amid an unprecedented health workforce crisis, and with an increasing number of health workers being displaced by the impacts of climate change and armed conflict, the patchwork quilt of standards and qualifications between countries threatens to prevent health workers from practicing to their capacities, much less helping to alleviate workforce shortages in high-need countries and improve healthcare access for underserved populations,” said Peter Preziosi, President and CEO of CGFNS.
“This new Institute will be the centerpiece of our effort to address this challenge and ease mobility for health workers to practice where they want and where they are needed,” he added.
Leading the new Institute as its Chief is Julia To Dutka, EdD, a renowned global expert and strategist in credential assessment and global labor mobility who is widely published in the fields of education, regulation, and language teaching and testing. Dr. To Dutka brings to the Institute a unique integration of experience from her many years of service at CGFNS, as well as from higher education and from the assessment industry, where she has led large-scale global assessment initiatives.
The Institute will comprise three centers of excellence:
- The Center for Global Assessment and Certification will lead efforts in the setting of global standards and assessment of competencies in the health professions. Its senior director, Joseph McClintock, PhD, has more than 20 years’ experience in all aspects of certification and educational assessment, including test design and creation, item and test development, standards setting and job task analysis. He joins the Institute after serving as vice president of Measurement, Inc., a leading provider of customized educational assessment services.
- The Center for Knowledge Management will manage CGFNS International’s extensive international education and health regulatory databases, along with other knowledge assets, with a focus on leveraging the educational and regulatory data to advance initiatives, policies and further research in global health workforce development. Its senior director, Emily Tse, MPhil, is a recognized expert in the credential evaluation field who previously managed the Country Index series on educational systems around the world at the International Education Research Foundation (IERF).
- The Center for Global Research and Policy will catalyze a robust research and development agenda and contribute to global human resources for health scholarship through inquiry around global health workforce development, care delivery, and lifelong learning issues. Its senior director, Lauren Herckis, PhD, joins CGFNS from the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University, where she has led interdisciplinary research efforts focused on evidence-based practice for using emerging educational technologies across diverse cultural contexts.
“With our nearly 50-year mission of evaluating nurses and allied health professionals who have chosen to live and work in their country of choice through assessment protocols centering on academic and professional credentials, it is time for CGFNS to recommit itself to improving the health and well-being of the world’s populations,” said To Dutka. “The Institute will enable CGFNS to serve as a thought leader, to advance new and innovative certification systems, and to support models of care delivery that will accelerate health workforce growth and evolution worldwide.”
About CGFNS International, Inc.
Founded in 1977 and based in Philadelphia, CGFNS International is an immigration-neutral not-for-profit organization proudly serving as the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization for the nursing and allied health professions. CGFNS International is an NGO in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is a member of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO).
Contact Information:
David St. John
dstjohn@cgfns.org
SOURCE: CGFNS International
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